The 'Mother' of the Golden Bracelet Was a Man

Unprecedented genetic sequencing of bone fragments inside 14 historic plaster casts in Pompeii reveals that the iconic 'mother' holding a child on her hip was an unrelated adult man, while the 'two sisters' locked in a final embrace included at least one biological male. Swipe to see →

THE ENIGMA OF GIUSEPPE FIORELLI'S CASTS

To understand how forensic genetics managed to interrogate witnesses who perished nearly two millennia ago, one must look back to the geological catastrophe of 79 AD and the ingenious technical method that immortalized its victims.

FORENSIC TECHNOLOGY FOR EXTRACTING ANCIENT DNA

Extracting viable genetic material from human remains subjected to the extreme conditions of the Vesuvius eruption was long considered by many specialists to be a nearly insurmountable technical barrier.

THE TWIST IN THE HOUSE OF THE GOLDEN BRACELET

For fifty years, the physical arrangement of those four bodies fueled one of the most famous family narratives of the ancient world.

SECRETS OF THE HOUSE OF THE CRYPTOPORTICUS

Two of those victims (Casts 21 and 22) were immortalized in plaster lying side by side in an intimate embrace, with the head of one resting gently against the chest and abdomen.

A COSMOPOLITAN METROPOLIS

From a historical and sociological perspective, these genomic findings illuminate the true nature of the Roman domestic household (familia).

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