Evidence is still emerging about the ancient city of Pompeii, which witnessed a volcanic eruption in 79 AD, and became famous for many stories and rumors. Especially since it contains dozens of bodies, as the volcanic eruption buried the city under a thick layer of ash, which preserved many of its residents and buildings.

But a new DNA analysis has revealed shocking truths about the true identities of those bodies.

New evidence:

New evidence about the bodies buried in Pompeii has re-established accounts of who lived there, dispelling a millennia-old myth about their identity, according to a team of researchers.

The results of the new study shed light on previously incorrect conclusions about the relationships between the inhabitants of Pompeii and reveal new insights into the demographics of the ancient Roman port city.

The researchers behind the new study extracted DNA from 14 of the 86 plaster casts currently under restoration. Despite the volcanic conditions that killed the Pompeii residents, traces of their genes are still present in the bones they left behind.

Different genetic relationships:

The team found that some of the residents were of different sexes, contrary to what was previously thought, and had different genetic relationships with each other.

One particularly famous set of remains the team revisited was an adult wearing a gold bracelet and a child in his lap.

Previously thought to be a mother and child, it turned out to be a boy and a child. Researchers have now come up with a surprising new theory: “These were servants or slaves, or perhaps the dead children were the children of servants or slaves who also lived in the house,” according to Alissa Mitnick of the Max Planck Institute.




Levant!
Demographically, the team found that five individuals in Pompeii were genetically related not to modern Italians and Etruscans of the imperial period but to groups from the eastern Mediterranean, the Levant, and North Africa, specifically the Jewish population of North Africa.
Pompeii was an important port for Rome in the first century, so it is not surprising that it had representation from all over the Mediterranean, but the genetic histories of the individuals included in the study bear this out.


The study also shows that the genetic research of the Pompeii population offers an opportunity to correct past errors. “It is possible that the use of casts as a means of


storytelling led to their relative positions being manipulated by past restorers,” the team wrote.

In other words, previous research and restoration work at Pompeii may have distorted the basic truth at the site, that individuals were related to each other when they died.

Correcting the narrative
Genomes don’t lie, so they offer modern experts an opportunity to correct narratives that may have been derived from previous attempts to dramatize the final moments of the Pompeii population in specific ways.
Pompeii is one of the most terrifying and stunning examples of how a catastrophe can provide a gateway to knowledge and exploration of the past. As genetic testing of Pompeii's remains continues, and as more parts of the city are excavated that are still buried, scientists will undoubtedly uncover ever clearer details of the city that was swallowed by the volcano.