When visiting the archaeological site of Pompeii, one of the most impressive sights are the plaster casts of the victims found beneath the ashes of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Over the decades, a story about who each of these characters were and what they did whose deaths were frozen in time. In the House of the Cryptoporticus, for example, there is a couple who appear to be kissing and said to be a mother and daughter, or two sisters, and in the House of the Golden Bracelet there are four individuals who are said to have It is a family made up of two parents and their children.
A new study on the analysis of ancient DNA, led by the prestigious geneticist David Reich of Harvard University, overturns some of these interpretations, after showing genetic data that not only does not fit the traditional story , but also demonstrate that the historical interpretations were very biased. The result is published this Thursday in the magazine Current biologyafter examining the skeletal material incorporated in the mussels which made it possible to reconstruct the entire genome and to characterize the genetic relationships, sex, ancestry and mobility of the individuals.
“A notable example is the discovery of an adult wearing a gold bracelet and holding a child, which was traditionally interpreted as a mother and her child, and that it was an adult man and a child , no relation,” Reich explains. “Similarly, two individuals considered sisters, or a mother and daughter, included at least one genetic male.”
A pair of individuals thought to be sisters, or a mother and daughter, was found to include at least one genetic male.
David Reich
— Geneticist at Harvard University
The first case cited by Reich is the most striking, that of the supposed “family” of the House of the Golden Bracelet. “The four individuals commonly interpreted as parents and their two children are in fact not genetically related,” the report concludes. study. Concerning the embracing couple, the gender of the two cannot be confirmed. “Nuclear genetic analysis was only successful for individual 22 and revealed that he was a man, ruling out the possibility that the two victims were sisters or a mother and daughter,” write the authors.
A very cosmopolitan Rome
The analyzed genomes also reveal that the 14 individuals had diverse genomic backgrounds. They were mainly descended from recent immigrants from the eastern Mediterranean, as also seen in contemporary ancient genomes from the city of Rome, which underlines – in the researchers’ opinion – “the cosmopolitanism of the Roman Empire in this period “.
In this case, the authors highlight the case of individual 25 from the so-called Villa of the Mysteries, who was found alone in a room, lying on a layer of ash, with an iron ring, five bronze coins and a whip. “Based on the traces of his clothing and ornaments, he was assumed to belong to a lower social status and was interpreted as the guardian of the villa who faithfully remained in his position,” the authors write. “Our genetic analysis confirms the male sex estimate and mixed genetic ancestry that could possibly come from European and Eastern Mediterranean sources.”
“Unreliable” stories
In addition to highlighting the cosmopolitanism and mobility that shaped Roman imperial urban populations, the authors argue that this study illustrates how accounts based on limited evidence can be unreliable, often reflecting the worldview of researchers at each moment. “Our findings have important implications for the interpretation of archaeological data and the understanding of ancient societies,” says Alissa Mittnik, a researcher at Harvard University and co-author of the paper. “This highlights the importance of integrating genetic data with archaeological and historical information to avoid misinterpretations based on modern assumptions.”
It is important to integrate genetic data with archaeological and historical information to avoid misinterpretations based on modern assumptions.
Alissa Mittnik
— Researcher at Harvard University and co-author of the article
“Analyses carried out in 2015 already showed that, in certain cases, the bones were retouched and that there was a certain creativity to adapt them to the aesthetics of each era,” he recalls. Gemma Marfanyprofessor of genetics at the University of Barcelona (UB). “Furthermore, the interpretations of historians and archaeologists also reflected their beliefs and biases, since in many cases the bodies and their disposition were interpreted from the current view.”
For the specialist, in this work the case of family of the House of the Golden Bracelet, in which there are two adults and two children. “The analysis shows, curiously, that there are no women among them, since they are all men, and their chromosomes have been obtained, including those of the two children,” he says. “Moreover, there would be no close biological relationship between children and adults, indicating different personal relationships than had been proposed.”
“The fact that the most probable origin of the DNA extracted from the five bodies analyzed has a priority component in the eastern Mediterranean invites us to reflect on the dimension of migrations and mixtures which have characterized human populations throughout the history,” observes Antonio. Salas, geneticist at the University of Santiago (USC). “It reminds us that movement and interactions between human communities have been a constant and that this genetic and cultural richness is, in essence, the foundation that has allowed us to survive and thrive as a species.”
Refine interpretations
For archaeologist Alfredo González-Ruibal, the study is interesting because it forces us to be more careful with inferences based exclusively on visual analysis of bone remains and objects. “But I don’t think this calls into question the ‘construction of gender and family in past societies,’ as the authors claim in their conclusions,” he explains.
González-Ruibal believes that although DNA studies are very useful in changing or refining interpretations of human remains in the past, in this case their scope is rather limited. “I also think that the most interesting case is that of the group wrongly identified as father, mother and child,” he emphasizes. “However, the new interpretation actually adds little to our understanding of the Roman family or sexual identities: given the exceptional context of catastrophe, the grouping of individuals cannot be understood as representative of anything either.”
This is not the first example of genetic sex being inconsistent with skeletal or archaeological attributions.
Carles Lalueza-Fox
— Ancient DNA specialist and director of the Natural Sciences Museum of Barcelona
Carles Lalueza-Fox, specialist in ancient DNA and director of the Natural Sciences Museum of Barcelona, believes that the work sheds new light on the most emblematic archaeological site in Europe and shows, at the same time, that we have contemplated this by projecting our cultural stereotypes. “This is not the first example of genetic sex that does not agree with skeletal or archaeological attributions,” he recalls. “There is, for example, the Viking warrior from Birka who turned out to be a woman or the lovers from Modena who turned out to be not a man and a woman, but two men.” Regardless, he concludes, ancient DNA provides new insight that creates new and perhaps more thought-provoking stories than those we previously created without definitive evidence.
