Pompeii remained mostly untouched until 1748, when a group of __________ (1. EXPLORE) looking for ancient artifacts arrived in Campania and began to dig. They found that the ashes had acted as a marvelous preservative: Underneath all that dust, Pompeii was almost exactly as it had been almost 2,000 years before. Its _________ (2.BUILD) were intact. Skeletons were frozen right where they’d fallen. Everyday objects and __________ (3.HOUSE) goods littered the streets. Later ___________ (4.ARCHAEOLOGY) even uncovered jars of preserved fruit and loaves of bread!

Many scholars say that the excavation of Pompeii played a major role in the neo-Classical revival of the 18th century. Europe’s wealthiest and most ___________ (5.FASHION) families displayed art and _____________ (6.PRODUCT) of objects from the ruins, and drawings of Pompeii’s buildings helped shape the ____________(7.ARCHITECTURE) trends of the era. For example, wealthy British families often built “Etruscan rooms” that mimicked those in Pompeiian villas.

Today, the excavation of Pompeii has been going on for almost three centuries, and scholars and __________ (8.TOUR) remain just as fascinated by the city’s eerie ruins as they were in the 18th