A new study— published in Current Biology by a team of researchers at Harvard University and the Archaeological Park of Pompeii in Naples, Italy—asserts that ancient DNA taken from some of the victims challenges stories long told about those particular Pompeii citizens.

In the ruins of Pompeii, visitors aren’t only able to see the houses, frescos and artifacts of the ancient city’s people. They can also “see” the people themselves: plaster casts of Pompeii citizens’ burned bodies,

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

DNA evidence reshapes the story of Pompeii's 79 AD eruption victims, challenging old assumptions and revealing new insights into their lives.

In mere minutes, the giant cloud of ash and gases killed an estimated 2,000 people, many of whom were unearthed more than a thousand years later. Their decomposed bodies were preserved by the ash, and archaeologists were able to reconstruct their forms using plaster casts of the cavities they left behind. More than 100 casts have been made to date.

Ancient DNA recovered from Pompeii shows that people found holding one another beneath the volcanic ash weren’t related in the ways we think.

The results of new DNA tests just dropped this week, and they prove that we don't know as much about Pompeii as we once believed.

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.

New DNA evidence from Pompeii’s body casts reveals that traditional assumptions about residents’ relationships and origins were often incorrect, showing instead a diverse population with roots in the eastern Mediterranean.