Picture of imperial rome. but it s perhaps not that surprising because, of course, imperial rome was an incredible melting pot. as you say, there are large numbers of other skeletons there. does this mean we ll be able to get dna from some of the others? the geneticist i spoke to about this was very excited about the biological possibilities for what evidence may still lie in pompeii to be studied in the future. and notjust human dna, but also nonhuman dna from the environment. so, there are archaeologists who would like to go in and get environmental dna from the sediments, which could tell us what other biodiversity there was in pompeii at that time. such a pity we can t know their names and their backgrounds and the relationship between this man and the woman. do you think these are all questions which, in the end, we might almost be able to find out?
Researchers have been able to extract dna from the skeleton ofa man in pompeii. and they ve worked out his entire genetic code. victoria gill, the bbc s science correspondent, who s based in salford, told me more. it was a combination of these skeletons being so well preserved, but also the advances in the technology that allowed these scientists to extract dna from just a tiny amount of bone. scientists had previously thought that dna might have been destroyed by the extreme heat when vesuvius erupted, but it turns out that where it had been preserved, it was then because these remains were encased in these cemented, heat hardened and time hardened layers of ash, that actually preserved the dna as well to be able to be picked up in a test millennia later.
And what did they find in terms of the dna? they only got one whole genome, so basically the entire genetic code, set of instructions that made this person. they also managed to get non human dna. they found dna in his skeleton that was from a tuberculosis causing bacterium, suggesting he might have had the disease before he died. and actually, some of the archaeologists and anthropologists involved in the study think that perhaps that s why he wasn t running away. maybe he was sick, maybe he was suffering from disease. there were also signs in the woman s skeleton that she was older and may have had arthritis in her bones. from his own genome, they ve seen pinpoints of his ancestry and of his family connections. and some of those are largely unsurprising. it looks like he was a local person, it looks like he waas local to the italian peninsula. but he had some markers in his genetic code that appeared to be common to sardinia. and that s interesting, because it suggests a lot of diversity on the italian peninsula at that time, which again paints a genetic
The geneticist i spoke to about this was very excited about the biological possibilities for what evidence may still lie in pompeii to be studied in the future. and notjust human dna, but also nonhuman dna from the environment. so, there are archaeologists who would like to get environmental dna from the sediment, which could tell us what other biodiversity there was in pompeii at that time. such a pity we can t know their names and backgrounds and the relationship between this man and woman. do you think these are all questions which, in the end, we might be able to find out? these two people were found in the craftsman s house. this was a much more humble, working class home. with this combination of reading their genetic code and also just studying the positions of their bodies,
I think there s going to be at least a change in tone, and i would suggest also a change in substantive issues if gustavo petro becomes the president. 1943 years ago in 79 ad, one of the most famous disasters in history happened. mount vesuvius near naples erupted with unthinkable violence, engulfing the cities of pompeii and herculaneum in a gigantic pyroclastic flow. archaeologists have been excavating pompeii since the end of the 16th century. now, extraordinarily, researchers have been able to extract dna from the skeleton ofa man in pompeii. and they ve worked out his entire genetic code. victoria gill, the bbc s science correspondent, who s based in salford, told me more. it was a combination of these skeletons being so well preserved, but also the advances in the technology