Body casts from Pompeii show who the victims were

The DNA of Pompeii was genetically diverse, according to the reversal of Ellis, Ellis and Lindo, who wrote in the paper “Posuma vs. Cosseiro et al

The DNA analysis also confirmed that Pompeii’s population was genetically diverse: the analysed individuals were descendants of immigrants from the eastern Mediterranean. Ellis said that they knew about it from the jewelry they wore, the cults they follow, and the decorations that adorn the houses. “But we didn’t really know it from the body cast themselves. Now we do, and that’s quite important information.”

The reversal shows that genomes can change the stories of individual people, according to the co-author.

The narratives were pointed out to be highly biased and judgements were made without any research to back them up.

The findings published in the journal Current Biology relied on the remains of Pompeiians being pulled from their corpses and placed into casts to fill the voids left by their decomposing bodies.

The researchers had the opportunity to collect some of these fragments during efforts to restore 86 of the 104 plaster casts. There were samples which yielded complete or partial genomes. Lindo says that the researchers were very lucky. “Just being exposed to that type of heat would have destroyed a lot of the DNA, and then being mixed environmentally with the plaster later on would have also complicated the situation.”

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“The findings challenge enduring notions such as the association of jewelry with femininity or the interpretation of physical proximity as evidence of familial relationships,” said Professor David Caramelli, from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Florence.

Alissa Mittnik, a co-author with the Max Planck Institute, said in a news release that the findings “highlight the importance of integrating genetic data with archaeological and historical information to avoid misinterpretations based on modern assumptions.”

The bodies, later immortalized by plaster casts, inspired narratives about who the victims were: for example, a mother holding her child, and two sisters embracing in their final moments.