MILAN (AP) — The Italian news agency ANSA says new excavations in the ancient buried city of Pompeii have yielded the undisturbed skeletons of people who had taken refuge from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D.79.

The director of the Pompeii archaeological site, Massimo Osanna, told ANSA on Wednesday the skeletons — believed to be two women and three children — were still intact, having been left undisturbed despite looting at the site centuries ago. Osana called it "a shocking find, but also very important for history."

The bodies were discovered inside a house holding a charcoal inscription that historians say dates the deadly eruption to October, two months later than previously thought. Archaeologists believe they sought safety in a small room but were either crushed when the roof caved in or burned by the fiery cloud.