Pompeii Man’s DNA Unravels Why He Didn’t Flee The City
By Mikelle Leow, 30 May 2022
Photo 171218620 © Thomas Lenne | Dreamstime.com
A glimpse into the last moments of a man and a woman who were buried in the wreckage of Pompeii has been revealed. This marks the first time that DNA of a person who died in the tragedy has been fully sequenced.
Archaeologists discovered their bones in what has been dubbed Casa del Fabbro, or The Craftsman's House, in 1933. Thanks to advancements in science and how well the remains were preserved by volcanic ash—thus protecting them from external components like oxygen—a team of scientists was able to extract considerable information from a modest sample of powdered bone. The researchers outlined their findings in the Scientific Reports journal.
The pair were a man in his late 30s and a woman estimated to be older than 50 years old. Accordingly, they were slumped in the house’s dining room, as if having a meal just moments before Mount Vesuvius’ blast.
Interestingly, the two did not even try to escape, and the ancient DNA of the man now tells a story of why this might be so.
Anthropologist Dr Serena Viva from the University of Salento tells BBC Radio 4’s Inside Science that health issues could have restricted the man and woman from fleeing the lost Roman city.
The DNA in the man’s spine pointed at the presence of tuberculosis-causing bacteria when he was still alive, which would have prevented him from getting away quickly. And so, it was possible that he and the woman just sat down and continued with their meal instead, resigned to an ill fate.
Image via Scorrano et al / Scientific Reports (open access)
The researchers were also able to unlock his entire genetic code by studying a small fragment of bone from the base of his skull, which revealed that his genes were a match with those of people who lived in Italy during the Roman Imperial age. However, there was also a link to the genetic code of modern central Italians, hinting that genetic diversity was common across the Italian Peninsula.
Dr Viva describes found victims of Pompeii as “silent witnesses” to the catastrophe, and that it’s been an honor working alongside them.