A new study has shattered historians' long-held assumptions about some of the people who died in Mount Vesuvius' eruption in 79 C.E.

DNA evidence reshapes the story of Pompeii's 79 AD eruption victims, challenging old assumptions and revealing new insights into their lives.

Researchers have studied the DNA preserved in the skeletal remains of Pompeii volcanic eruption victims. In 79 CE, the violent eruption of the Somma-Vesuvius volcanic system engulfed the Roman town of Pompeii. This massive eruption trapped its inhabitants beneath a thick layer of volcanic ash, and led to the preservation of many bodies.

The results of new DNA tests just dropped this week, and they prove that we don't know as much about Pompeii as we once believed.

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,