Recent DNA analyzes on the bodies of Pompeii victims provide a new interpretation of their story.
It is one of the archaeological sites that arouse the most curiosity. In the year 79, Vesuvius erupted and destroyed the Roman city of Pompeii in its path. This disaster caused around 3,000 deaths in the city. During the eruption, a deadly layer of ash, pumice and pyroclastic flows buried the inhabitants, but helped preserve the shapes of many bodies. Casts were then made using the holes left after the decomposition of the bodies of certain victims. Their position suggests in particular what they were doing at the time of the eruption and above all demonstrates the panic which overcame them.
These bodies have been studied for years, but recently an international team of archaeologists applied the latest genetic analysis techniques to the bones of Pompeii residents and published the results in the journal Current Biology. The team managed to extract DNA from five charred bodies and their findings change “the history that has been written since the rediscovery of this forgotten city in the 1700s.”
This study notably deconstructs interpretations on the identity and the link of certain victims to each other. They were based on appearance, accessories worn and physical proximity of the bodies. For example, a body wearing a gold bracelet and with a child on her lap was presented as that of a mother with her offspring. However, DNA analyzes revealed that it was a man who had no biological link with the child.
“We look at the past with the cultural eyes of the present and that view is sometimes distorted. To me, the discovery of a man with a gold bracelet trying to save an unrelated child is more interesting and culturally complex than assuming that it was a mother and her child”, analyzed Carles Lalueza-Fox, biologist, at LiveScience.
Likewise, two individuals found in an embrace had been described as two sisters, while the analyzes identified a male being. “This study illustrates how accounts based on limited evidence can be unreliable, often reflecting the worldview of researchers of the time,” said David Caramelli of the University of Florence. The DNA of these people also made it possible to identify a common point on the origin of these different victims: they are descended from migrants from the eastern Mediterranean, testifying to the cosmopolitan character of the city.