BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | 'Pompeii of the East' discovered

An expedition to the site of the largest volcanic eruption in modern times has uncovered a lost kingdom.

More than 100,000 people died when Mount Tambora erupted on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa in 1815.

Remains of a house with two occupants buried under ash have been unearthed for the first time in a discovery hailed the "Pompeii of the East".

Scientists say bronze bowls, ceramic pots and other recovered artefacts shed light on an old Indonesian culture.

"There's potential that Tambora could be the Pompeii of the East, and it could be of great cultural interest," said Professor Haraldur Sigurdsson, of the University of Rhode Island, US, who has been researching the area for 20 years.

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