Ancient DNA recovered from Pompeii shows that people found holding one another beneath the volcanic ash weren’t related in the ways we think.

This new study probed the DNA evidence that has been taken from some of these bodies. The team used the same strontium isotopes that were used to date the DNA samples to get a better understanding of the diversity and origins of Pompeii’s residents.

In 79 A.D., a volcanic eruption engulfed a town’s residents. They weren’t all who scientists thought, newly extracted genetic material suggests.