For nearly 2,000 years, the iconic “petrified corpses” of Pompeii have been the most haunting and powerful symbols of the 79 AD disaster. Frozen in their final moments, their forms have long been a source of morbid fascination, leading to assumptions about their identities, relationships, and even their final agonies. But recent forensic analysis is revealing a shocking truth: these are not petrified corpses, but casts.

A groundbreaking study, which used DNA extracted from the fragmented skeletal remains found within 14 of the famous plaster casts, has revealed that long-held assumptions about the victims were often incorrect. For instance, a pair of individuals in a close embrace, long interpreted as sisters or a mother and daughter, included at least one genetic male. Similarly, a widely recognized image of an adult wearing a gold bracelet and holding a child, thought to be a mother and her son, was, in fact, an unrelated adult male.

Beyond the human stories, new research is also shedding light on the terrifying physics of the eruption itself. While it was long believed that most victims suffocated on ash, more recent studies, particularly of the victims in nearby Herculaneum, suggest a more horrifying end. Forensic analysis of some remains has found evidence of “fulminant shock,” indicating that people died instantly when a wave of superheated gas and volcanic ash hit them.