Identity of casts of victims at Pompeii not all they seem, research suggests

It is a tragic moment, frozen in time: a family of four shelters beneath a staircase as ash and pumice rains down on Pompeii. But now scientists studying DNA from the victims say this famous scene is not what it seems, with the "mother" of the group actually a man.

When Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD79, the Roman town of Pompeii was destroyed, its remaining inhabitants buried beneath a thick blanket of ash and pumice. These victims were later immortalised by archaeologists who used plaster to fill the voids left by their bodies.

Now researchers say DNA evidence debunks long-held assumptions about the identity and relationships of those captured by some of the most famous casts.

Writing in the journal Current Biology , scientists in Italy, Germany and the US report how they extracted ancient nuclear and mitochondrial DNA from samples of bone fragments mixed with plaster taken from 14 casts that were undergoing restoration, five of which were studied in detail.

Among them were three of the four individuals found at the foot of the staircase within a richly decorated building named "the House of the Golden Bracelet". The moniker refers to the jewellery worn on the arm of one of the two adults who was found with a child on their hip – circumstances that led to the idea this victim was the mother of the two children within the group, with the other adult identified as the father.

However, the new analysis reveals the bracelet-wearing individual was male, and that he had black hair and dark skin. In addition, the team found no evidence he was related to the two infants – both of whom were boys – with the researchers suggesting there were also genetic clues hinting that the other adult might also have been male. Indeed the data suggests the ancestors of these three victims had origins in different eastern Mediterranean or north African populations.

The study also offers fresh insights into the relationship of two victims, preserved in an embrace, found in a building known as the House of the Cryptoporticus. While some archaeologists have suggested these casts could represent a mother and daughter, two sisters, or a pair of lovers, the new analysis rules out the first two interpretations, revealing one of the victims was a male and that the pair were not related through the female line.

"These discoveries challenge longstanding interpretations, such as associating jewellery with femininity or interpreting physical closeness as an indicator of biological relationships," the researchers write, noting it is possible restorers in the past manipulated the poses and relative positioning of casts to aid storytelling.

However, the analysis did not overturn every narrative: the team's analyses confirmed a victim found alone in a room within a large building known as the "Villa of Mysteries" was male, as was previously thought, and revealed he might have been a local to Pompeii.

Prof Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, of the University of Cambridge and who was not involved in the work, said the study of DNA in skeletons from Pompeii and the nearby town of Herculaneum had enormous potential.

"Inescapably, this sort of new evidence turns some older interpretations, especially those based on rather romantic assumptions, on their head," he said.

But, he added, the most interesting question is where the people came from.

"One would predict, in a society heavily based on slavery, a significant diversity," he said. "It is very interesting for instance that they have identified an individual with dark skin and black hair, which strongly points to an enslaved person from Africa."

Phil Perkins, a professor of archaeology at The Open University, added that the study suggested the victims found under the stairs could have been, or were descended from, migrants to Italy .

"The research shows that scientific analysis can provide new insight into the lives of the victims of Pompeii, and provides further evidence of human mobility around the Mediterranean in the Roman period," he said. "The people of Pompeii were not Romans from the city of Rome, but people of the Mediterranean."