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,

FILE – Jewelry found in the ruins of a house in Pompeii are displayed, backdropped by the casts of two adults and two children who died together in the house in Pompeii, at the exhibition, “Life and death Pompeii and Herculaneum,” at the British Museum in central London, March 26, 2013.

This new study probed the DNA evidence that has been taken from some of these bodies. The team used the same strontium isotopes that were used to date the DNA samples to get a better understanding of the diversity and origins of Pompeii’s residents.

But DNA evidence recently published in Current Biology suggests things were not as they seem. POMPEII, Italy (KMID/KPEJ) – A family frozen in time by the volcanic eruption that hit Pompeii nearly two millennia ago.

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.

A recent DNA study has upended long-held theories about the people who died in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, revealing unexpected details about the demographics and connections among the victims.