Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, destroying the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. I believe all but about 4000 residents of Pompeii were able to escape, but the city was covered with many feet of ash and was not habitable again.
A typical street in Pompeii. You can see ruts from the carts. Down a little ways are paths for people to cross so they wouldn't get their feet dirty if the streets were wet from rain or sewage. You can see paths for the carts.
Here's a garden in one of the houses. There were many grand houses in Pompeii, as it was where the rich from Rome often retreated to.
The frescoes that survived probably amazed me the most. Most of the walls of the nicer houses were covered with frescoes.
This is a plaster cast of one a person who obviously died after the eruption. When escavating the site, the archeologists found " holes" in the ash that were the shape of humans. I guess the remains had decomposed but by pouring plaster in these "holes" they were able to recreate the position of death.
This is an actual person. You can see his teeth and skull.