A handful of people in Pompeii that were killed by the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 are not who experts thought they were, according t

DNA From Pompeii Victims Reveals Surprising Relationships Amidst the Chaos

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2024-11-07 20:00:06

A handful of people in Pompeii that were killed by the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 are not who experts thought they were, according to a team of researchers that recently collected DNA from the individuals’ remains.

The team’s findings—published today in Current Biology—spotlight previous incorrect conclusions about relationships between the residents of Pompeii and reveals new insights about the demographics of the Ancient Roman port city.

“We show that the large genetic diversity with significant influences from the Eastern Mediterranean was not only a phenomenon in the metropolis of Rome during Imperial times but extends to the much smaller city of Pompeii, which underscores the cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic nature of Roman society,” said Alissa Mittnik, an archaeogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Harvard University, and co-author of the study, in an email to Gizmodo.

Pompeii was famously buried by hot dash and debris when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79. Vesuvius also destroyed the ancient Roman town of Herculaneum, where experts found carbonized scrolls that AI models can now unwrap without damaging the texts. Under the feet of ash, Pompeii’s buildings, streets, and artworks—vestiges of its daily life—were remarkably well preserved.

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