As a result of DNA analysis of Pompeii's body, it was not a family, but a man, a man, a woman, a man

Nov 08, 2024

DNA analysis revealed that the four previously recognized bodies were all male and "male".

Photo source = Max Planck Institute

New DNA analysis results have been released from a body found in Pompeii, an ancient Italian city that died about 2,000 years ago due to the eruption of the Vesuvius volcano.

An international joint research team, including Germany's Max Planck Institute, recently published the results of DNA analysis extracted from 14 bodies among Pompeii's victims in the biological journal 『Current Biology』.

According to the results of the study, in the case of a total of four previously discovered bodies, a person wearing a golden bracelet was lying on the bed, and children were on the knee and next to it.

In front of him, a person was found sitting and screaming, and it was believed that the person wearing the bracelet was the mother of two children and the person sitting was the husband, and the family was together for the last minute.

However, as a result of DNA analysis, all four of the dead were found to be men and were not genetically related to the family.

Dr. Alyssa Mitnick of the Max Planck Institute says "We don't know exactly what the relationship was"It completely reversed the previous assumption that it would be a family" he said.

In addition, the bodies, which seemed to have ended their lives with a child and an adult 'Hug of Love', were previously presumed to be mothers who died with their children in their arms.

However, a new genomic analysis revealed that the adult was a male who was not genetically related to the child. The gender of the other person has not been identified.

Dr. Mitnick says "These could have been servants or slaves, or servants or slave children who lived in that house" he estimated.

In addition, the team discovered that ancient Pompeii citizens are descendants of ancestors who migrated from the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa, including central and eastern Turkiye, Sardinia, Lebanon, and Italy.

The team was able to partially reconstruct the individual's appearance, finding that one had black hair and black skin and the other two had brown eyes.

The researchers emphasized that more genetic testing is needed to fully understand Pompeii's past.

Dr. Mitnick said "Our findings have important implications for the interpretation of archaeological data and for the understanding of ancient society."