Dr. Jessica Venner

And I think there were far more slaves than are counted in some.

Some of the estimates have gone down to 7,500 people, which is so small.

I mean, anyone that's been to Pompeii, you've been many times and

you can see that it's a huge town, really, you know?

And also then you would count the citizenry outside of the town walls as well.

Do you count those?

And yes, you do, because they're part of that territory.

So it's a very open question, but I would personally say about 20,000 is a good estimate.

Oh, so it is this natural response that humans have to revert to horticulture in points of crisis.

Yeah.

We have it all over the world.

It's still happening now.

And I did mention COVID.

We all started gardening again.

All of a sudden there were window boxes everywhere and everyone wanted an allotment.

It's almost like a natural response.

But in Pompeii, it was an opportunistic thing, I think.

So after the earthquake in AD 62, in those 17 years up until the eruption, there was a 250% increase I found in urban agricultural gardens.

Yes.

And just in two out of nine regions.