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,

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.

Fourteen miles southeast of modern Naples lies Pompeii, a city frozen in time by the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. What was once a bustling Roman town became a sprawling graveyard,