'Pompeii' Exhibit Offers More Than Just Artifacts

DENVER (CBS4) - More than 250 artifacts buried for centuries in the ash will be on display at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science starting Friday, in their new "A Day in Pompeii" exhibit.

The artifacts from ancient Italy nearly 2,000 years ago include artwork, sculpture and jewelry. There's also a digital examination of daily life in Pompeii, as well as the day it all came a tumbling down -- the day the volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD and destroyed the culture. The city was rediscovered in the 1700s.

There will also be a team of professional actors who will become 14 different historical Roman characters.

"They are going to staff the thermopolian, so you can meet a Roman gladiator, you can meet a vestal virgin, you can meet a senator, a freed slave, all of whom are there to talk to you about what it was a like in Pompeii," CBS4's Justin McHeffey said in his report on the new exhibit on Thursday on CBS4.

The city of Pompeii at its highest population -- about 20,000 people -- was located in an area half the size of City Park.

"It would have been a very densely populated environment. You knew all your neighbors' business. There was no central air conditioning, so 20,000 people in that small of an area, you knew a lot about your neighbors," DMNS Curator Steve Nash said.

Some of the cool things visitors will see include:

- A carbonized loaf of bread preserved after the volcanic eruption
- An authentic boat anchor
- Fish hooks
- Ceramics
- Figs
- Olives

"A Day in Pompeii" opens Sept. 14 and runs through Jan. 13, 2013. Tickets cost $24 for adults, $15 for students and $17 for seniors. That includes admission to the entire museum.

LINK: A Day in Pompeii at DMNS