A DNA study has unveiled incredible information about the lives and identities of the people of Pompeii, whose long-held assumptions may be wrong about them. The analysis, published in the journal Current Biology last week, took genetic testing on five individuals who were killed in the A.D. 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. It challenged the historical interpretation of the relationships and genders of the individuals, thus showing how present assumptions misguide us about the truth of ancient lives.
One of the most often-told myths depicts a mother embracing her child, but DNA analysis proved that in fact the “mother” was male and didn’t have any relation to the child. Similarly, two figures apparently embracing were once thought to represent sisters or even a mother and daughter, but genetic evidence now reveals at least one was male.
This study underlines the importance of having caution in attempts to assign relationships or gender roles based on modern cultural expectations,” said Professor David Reich of Harvard Medical School. “It underlines the dangers of interpreting ancient data through a contemporary lens,” Reich said.
The scientists analyzed genetic material preserved in the casts for nearly 2,000 years by scientists from Italy’s University of Florence and Germany’s Max Planck Institute. They confirmed that the ancestry of the residents of Pompeii reflected a mix of East and West Mediterranean backgrounds and was thus diverse. That diversity further contributes to proof that this was a moving world within the Roman Empire as well as in Pompeii itself.
The plaster casts of deceased people, created by archaeologists in the 19th century as fillers to fill the cavities resulting from decomposed bodies, have done something more wonderful; they preserved the physical forms that now, through modern genetics, revealed a truth to the identity of the lost Pompeii. Discoveries from this research reshape our understanding of ancient societies and add a more nuanced view to the tragedy of Pompeii’s story.
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