Finally, contrary to previous hypotheses, our  findings based on the interdisciplinary volcanological and bio-anthropological study of the deposits and victims of the 79 AD Plinian eruption reveal that even at the extreme periphery of the S4 surge neither asphyxia nor impact force but heat caused the deaths. Actually, while impact force and exposure time to dusty gas dropped below lethal conditions, the pyroclastic cloud retained its high temperature thus being the main cause of instantaneous mortality for the Vesuvius area inhabitants, including people who were sheltered within buildings as far as in Pompeii. Definitely, a group of indoor victims found at Muregine, within the S4 PDC limit about half kilometer south-east of Pompeii walls, suggests that even an extremely short exposure to the pyroclastic surge in the order of seconds to a few tents of seconds was lethal.

Giuseppe Mastrolorenzo, Pierpaolo Petrone, Lucia Pappalardo, Fabio M. Guarino. Lethal Thermal Impact at Periphery of Pyroclastic Surges: Evidences at Pompeii