That bloke everyone thought was squashed by a rock at Pompeii actually suffocated on dust

Remember this poor bloke?

Everyone thought this unlucky fella had his skull crushed while he was trying to escape the great Pompeii volcano eruption in 79AD.

And, after archaeologists released this photo, you can understand why:

It was assumed this huge stone block – which weighed roughly 300kg – fell form the doorway and pulverised his melon during the volcanic commotion.

But, now that theory has been revised.

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Because archaeologists have found a head they reckon belonged him, and it’s fully intact.

As we learned from a Facebook post from the Pompeii Parcho Archeologico museum late last week, he didn’t die a quick and, let’s admit it, somewhat gruesome.

Instead, the truth actually sounds much, much worse.

“His death was presumably not, therefore, due to the impact of the stone block, as initially assumed, but likely to asphyxia caused by the pyroclastic flow,” a museum spokesperson said.

“The identified skeletal remains consist of the upper part of the thorax, the upper limbs, the skull and jaw.

“Currently undergoing analysis, they display some fractures, the nature of which will be identified, so as to be able to reconstruct the final moments in the life of the man with greater accuracy.”

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But, as we read in a yarn from Nick Squires for the UK’s The Daily Telegraph, experts have pieced together a few chilling details about old mate’s untimely end.

Squires wrote the man’s jaw was hanging open, “frozen in an expression of fear and horror”.

Oh dear.

And while that’s a horrifying description, it doesn’t get any better when you ask the archaeological site’s director, Massimo Osanna, about it.

“His mouth is open wide, in a very striking manner,” he said.

“We believe he died from being suffocated by the dust and volcanic ash.”

Umm, great.

As you may remember, this bloke was also thought to have had difficulties walking due to an infection in the tibia, which would have impeded his escape.

So as Mount Vesuvius exploded, he would have been hobbling around, coughing and spluttering before eventually collapsing.

And then, 2000 years later, the world was chuckling at his death.

At least you have a little bit of perspective for your Monday, right?