Scientists uncover surprising truth about identity of Pompeii victims

A family of four was frozen in time under a staircase when the ash fell on Pompeii from the erupting volcano Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD - now thanks to DNA evidence, it seems the family isn't exactly who we all thought they were.

The Roman town was ultimately destroyed as a result of the eruption with an estimated death toll of 2,000 and its victims were frozen in the exact moment tragedy struck by the ash and debris to create a protective shell around their bodies.

After their skin and tissue decayed, the victims left voids with just the skeletal remains remaining. Archaeologists would later use plaster to fill these voids.

Experts had previously made assumptions about the victims' identities and relationships but new DNA evidence counteracts their long-held theories.

Out of the 14 casts going under restoration (while five were under detailed study), ancient nuclear and mitochondrial DNA from samples of bone fragments mixed with plaster were extracted from all of them, according to scientists in Italy, Germany and the US as written in the Current Biology journal.

Inside the House of the Golden Bracelet, three people were discovered at the foot of the staircase - the location gets its name from the jewellery one of the two adults was wearing. This, in addition to the adult being found with a child on their hip, caused experts to believe this victim was a mother of two and the father was the second adult.

A whole family killed at Pompeii is displayed at the Life And Death In Pompeii And Herculaneum exhibition at The British Museum on March 26, 2013 in London, England. The exhibition runs from March 28 to September 29, 2013. Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

But this isn't the case, as the victim sporting the bracelet was actually found to be a dark-haired, dark-skinned male and he has no relation to the two infant boys found with him, while genetic evidence also appears to point to the second adult also being a male too.
Meanwhile, all three had various eastern Mediterranean or North African origins.

Other victims' remains that were analysed also include two victims who were frozen in an embrace in the House of the Cryptoporticus.
Before this new research, experts presumed the pair's relationship could be anything from two sisters, a mother and daughter or a couple. This new evidence has found that it is neither of the two since one of the victims is actually male and he was not related to her through the female line.

“These discoveries challenge longstanding interpretations, such as associating jewellery with femininity or interpreting physical closeness as an indicator of biological relationships,” the researchers wrote. They believe it is possible restorers in the past manipulated the poses and relative positioning of casts to aid storytelling.

While we have learned some information about some of the victims, parts of the study also proved some assumptions to be true.

For example, archaeologists who found a victim by themselves inside the room of the Villa of Mysteries came to the conclusion he was male which was correct and could possibly have been local to the area.

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, a professor at the University of Cambridge who wasn't involved in study noted how this new DNA evidence "turns some older interpretations, especially those based on rather romantic assumptions, on their head".

He also commented on how this evidence reflects the society at the time.

He continued: "One would predict, in a society heavily based on slavery, a significant diversity."

“It is very interesting for instance they have identified an individual with dark skin and black hair, which strongly points to an enslaved person from Africa.”

Phil Perkins, a professor of archaeology at the Open University, discussed how the study "provides further evidence of human mobility around the Mediterranean in the Roman period".

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