New DNA analysis of Pompeii victims reveals shocking truth about who they really were

Following the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which destroyed the ancient Roman city of Pompeii in 79 AD, the bodies of numerous victims were covered in ash, preserving their postures at the time of their horrific death. Over the centuries, the soft tissues of the dead decomposed, leaving cavities that researchers later filled with plaster to create casts of the dead.

From the small fragments of skeletal material still preserved in these casts, the authors of the new study were able to extract DNA from 14 different individuals, which they then analyzed. The new data has revolutionized scientists' understanding of who these Pompeii victims actually were, IflScience writes.

One of the most famous plaster casts of Pompeii victims is a figure of an adult holding a child in a tender embrace. The sculpture is known as Two Maidens. Previously, scientists believed that it was a mother and daughter in her arms, frozen under burning volcanic lava.

But a new genomic analysis has revealed that the larger body actually belonged to a man who was not genetically related to the child, who was actually a boy. The team of scientists said that their research has debunked previous ideas about the lives of the inhabitants of the ancient Roman city, according to the DailyMail.

According to lissa Mittnik of the Max Planck Institute, "these were servants or slaves, or the children might have have been the children of servants or slaves who also inhabited the house."

"We show that the individuals’ sexes and family relationships do not match traditional interpretations, exemplifying how modern assumptions about gendered behaviors may not be reliable lenses through which to view data from the past," the researchers say.

"For instance, one notable example is the discovery that an adult wearing a golden bracelet and holding a child, traditionally interpreted as a mother and child, were an unrelated adult male and child," according to study author David Reich.

Scientists recall that this pair of people was discovered in 1974 in a house that became known as the House of the Golden Bracelet. After all, one person had a gold jewelry on his or her hand. Scientists still thought it was a family of four.

Study co-author David Caramelli emphasized that it was shocking to learn that previous assumptions were so inaccurate. He noted that "it was certainly a surprise to discover that the family was not a family and that at least one of the two girls was a boy."

And in a building called the House of the Cryptoporticus, a couple was found in each other's arms. Previously, scientists thought they were sisters. But with the help of a new analysis, it turned out that there is at least one man among them.

The experts also found out that not only the indigenous inhabitants of Ancient Rome were among the victims of Pompeii. "Overall it was interesting that they were mainly descended from recent immigrants from the eastern Mediterranean, highlighting the cosmopolitan nature of the Roman Empire," Caramelli said.

The research in Pompeii continues. Now scientists are working on analyzing the DNA of 168 more people. According to them, the results of their research "will offer us a much more precise and complete population panorama" of the ancient ghost town.

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