Ancient DNA has revealed surprises about the identities of some people who perished in the ancient Roman town of Pompeii after a volcanic eruption, overturning misconceptions about their genetic relationships, ancestry and sex. When Mount Vesuvius erupted ...

It’s one of the many stories told by observers of the victims of the tragedy that struck the ancient town. But DNA evidence recently published in Current Biology suggests things were not as they seem.

DNA analysis of the plastered remains at Pompeii has shown that previous interpretations of the ancient tragedy are inaccurate.

Researchers have studied the DNA preserved in the skeletal remains of Pompeii volcanic eruption victims. In 79 CE, the violent eruption of the Somma-Vesuvius volcanic system engulfed the Roman town of Pompeii. This massive eruption trapped its inhabitants beneath a thick layer of volcanic ash, and led to the preservation of many bodies.

When a volcanic eruption buried the ancient city of Pompeii ... relied on genetic material preserved for nearly two millennia. After Mount Vesuvius erupted and destroyed the Roman city in 79 A.D., bodies buried in mud and ash eventually decomposed ...

New DNA analysis of skeletal remains from Pompeii reveals that victims of Vesuvius’s eruption have been wrongly identified.

Drawing on multiple studies demonstrating that it is possible to retrieve DNA from both human and animal remains in Pompeii, they managed to extract genetic information from some of those plaster casts containing highly fragmented skeletal remains,

DNA analysis of victims in Pompeii who died in Mount Vesuvius' eruption reveals some unusual relations between the people who died together.

A family frozen in time by the volcanic eruption that hit Pompeii nearly two millennia ago. A mother, a father, and two children…one of the many stories invented by observers of the plaster casts made of the victims of the tragedy that struck the ancient town.