The internet couldn't help but laugh at the poor Pompeii victim crushed by a giant rock
Even centuries later, one of the world's most famous catastrophes continues to yield amazing discoveries that also somehow tap into our love of the macabre.
On Tuesday, archaeologists revealed they had discovered the skeleton of a victim who died attempting to flee the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD but was ultimately killed when a gigantic stone landed on his upper body.
The archaeologists noted that the man was around 30 years old and likely suffered from a bone infection that would have hampered his escape, thus dooming him to eventual death despite the fact he seems to have survived the first explosions of the eruption.
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On the one hand, it's an unimaginably terrible way to die, a tragic scene that's forever frozen in time.
On the other, it's straight out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon, something so awful one can't help but laugh in disbelief -- take this line from NPR's report: "The skeleton's head has not been located, but archaeologists believe it is probably crushed beneath the stone block."
And, boy, did the internet waste no time in identifying with this poor soul.
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Archaeologists also found what was apparently a horse and stable, but there's really nothing that can compare to the doomed man.
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Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.