In the wake of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, some two thousand people were smothered in ash, leaving behind still images of their final moments. Historians and archaeologists extrapolated stories and identities from these stills, describing a mother and child in an embrace or two sisters clutching each other. But a new genetic analysis shows how wrong we’ve been about some of these identities.
In a paper published today in the journal Current Biology, authors from the United States, Italy, and Germany describe what DNA evidence from 14 Pompeii victims tells us about their actual identity, from sex to ancestry. This study underscores that the narratives we derive from history aren’t necessarily true, and the science may reveal quite a different story.
