Sources:
– [Archaeology Magazine — DNA evidence rewrites history of Pompeii victims](https://archaeologymag.com/2024/11/dna-evidence-rewrites-history-of-pompeii-victims)
– [AZoLifeSciences — Genetic Analysis Redefines Stories of Pompeii Victims](https://www.azolifesciences.com/news/20241108/Genetic-Analysis-Redefines-Stories-of-Pompeii-Victims.aspx)
– [Michigan Public/NPR — New DNA evidence upends what we thought we knew about Pompeii victims](https://www.michiganpublic.org/2024-11-09/new-dna-evidence-upends-what-we-thought-we-knew-about-pompeii-victims)
– [Earth.com — DNA evidence reveals new clues about Pompeii’s eruption victims](https://earth.com/news/dna-evidence-reveals-new-clues-about-pompeiis-eruption-victims/)
– [University of Florence — Pompeii DNA rewrites history of victims](https://unifi.it/en/news/pompeii-dna-rewrites-history-victims-eruption-0)
– [PinkNews — Were the ‘two maidens’ of Pompeii actually gay lovers?](https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/11/08/were-the-two-maidens-of-pompeii-actually-gay-lovers-its-certainly-possible)
– [KRDO/AP — Ancient DNA rewrites the stories of people buried by volcanic eruption in ancient Pompeii](https://krdo.com/news/2024/11/08/ancient-dna-rewrites-the-stories-of-people-buried-by-volcanic-eruption-in-ancient-pompeii/)
– [Popular Archaeology — DNA evidence rewrites histories for people buried in volcanic eruption in ancient Pompeii](https://popular-archaeology.com/article/dna-evidence-rewrites-histories-for-people-buried-in-volcanic-eruption-in-ancient-pompeii/)
– [Scimex — The DNA of Pompeii victims can rewrite their history](https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/the-dna-of-pompeii-victims-can-rewrite-their-history)
– [Archaeological Park of Pompeii — House of the Golden Bracelet](https://pompeiisites.org/en/?p=3420)
– [Archaeology.org — Pompeii’s Casts: Family History](https://archaeology.org/issues/200-1601/features/3963-pompeii-casts-family-history)
– [HistorySkills — How the plaster casts of Pompeii captured the final moments of AD 79](https://www.historyskills.com/classroom/ancient-history/pompeii-plaster-casts)
– [Wikipedia — Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruption_of_Mount_Vesuvius_in_79_AD)
—
## The Problem With Visual Evidence
Archaeology has always had to work from what survives, and what survives is almost never the full picture. A house can preserve its walls, its floors, its painted decoration, its cooking vessels and serving dishes and storage amphorae, the charred seeds in its hearth and the bones of its animals — but not the conversations held in it, the relationships sustained within it, or the internal life of any person who lived there. Archaeology reads material culture, and material culture is the residue of behavior rather than its explanation.