Remains of 6th-century man in armor found at 'Pompeii of Japan'

Boy they're really spinning this one for all it's worth.

“Maybe, if he were someone of a high position, he might have been praying, or doing something in the direction of the volcano and attempting to appease its anger,”

Or maybe someone yelled, "Hey, look at that!" he turned and pfft. That's all she wrote.

which would have represented the latest technological import from the Korean Peninsula.

Or maybe it the guy wearing was "imported" from Korea.

"apparently turned to face a flow of molten rock as it gushed through his settlement."

In true samurai spirit.

Maybe he was trying to go back and rescue the child...

Maybe the guy saw what was coming, and was paralyzed with fear. Stop romanticizing the guy's death. Also, why does everything in Japan have to be "The (insert European name) of Japan"? "The Japanese Alps", "The Pompeii of Japan".... just call it what it is.

Wouldn't the armor melt under molten rock? In any case, would like to see a clearer photo than this.

just call it what it is.

OK, I will: juidging from the photo "A lump of mud"

It is true that there is a tendancy to call Japanese things after really historic European things.

Instead of calling the Japanese mountains after the Alps, perhaps we should call them the "not very high mountains of central Japan".

Rather than naming an area over the almost perfectly preserved remains of Pompeii, it should be "the not very well preserved remains compared to Pompeii of Gunma".

Ah_so: "Rather than naming an area over the almost perfectly preserved remains of Pompeii, it should be "the not very well preserved remains compared to Pompeii of Gunma".

Or perhaps they could be given Japanese names instead of AKB48-like half-English names. I doubt 99.9% of Japanese know what Pompeii is or was.

Interesting. I have never heard of this "Pompeii of Japan" and I would love to visit it.

Pyroclastic flows are usually preceded by super heated gases. He was probably killed by that.

@Pump24

Lava flows at around 700 to 1250C. Many metals have much higher melting points. Iron melts at 1510C and Steel melts at 1370C.

Japanese tend to want to compare anything in Japan with the best overseas even when it clearly is not the case. Judging by the photo does it look like a well preserved body? Im not seeing it.... And most likely the settler was either a korean or chinese emissary judging by the description of attire which was rare in Japan iespecially the gunma region in that period.

Is this one of those trick photos where you have to try to find the hidden picture? I don't see anything in this photo, much less a man wearing armor.

I think foreign science need to check this one out, or turn out to be like the dinasour remain some Japanese scientist found, but turn out the guy planted the bones.

Remember Japanese want to have everything other countries do and have.

I don't see a well-preserved man in armour either, sadly.

The reason it is referred to as 'The Japanese Pompeii' as if it was given it's true name (Mount Haruna), most men would confuse it with Mai Haruna....... probably.

Archaeological sites that are found after the eruption of a volcano and have objects and people "frozen in time" (the "Pompeii Effect") are not common, and they are usually compared to Pompeii. This is usually taken by media as a catchy phrase everywhere in the world. It is important because of that characteristic, but also because it is rare to find remains of bones in excavations in Japan, mostly because the soil is too acid and makes every organic material dissapear.

The picture is not really good to describe what can be seen, but it seems there is a large bone on the bottom right part of the armor, which could be the femur. So, to have a general image, it looks like he was on his/her knees and falled on his/her back. The yellowish part is the armor. It will be easier to see it when the archaeological report shows the drawings and pictures of the findings.

This may shine more light on the article. Hope this works. http://io9.com/5968201/archaeologists-at-pompeii-of-japan-site-find-a-1400-year+old-warrior-still-wearing-his-armour

Stop romanticizing the guy's death....

Why? Everybody wants a tragic death to serve some higher purpose or embody how they want to be remembered. I would think that, when he knew he couldn't outrun the pyroclastic flow, that he turned to face his death.

It will be interesting to see the artifacts once they are exhibited. The photo isn't much help.

......................... What am I supposed to be looking at?