Molecular signatures written in bone proteins of 79 AD victims from Herculaneum and Pompeii

A groundbreaking proteomic analysis of bones from victims of the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius reveals that bone collagen from Pompeii is more degraded than that from Herculaneum, despite the latter experiencing higher temperatures. This degradation in Pompeii is attributed to prolonged exposure to natural dry-wet soil cycles, which damaged the bone proteome more extensively than the rapid tissue vanishing caused by intense heat at Herculaneum. The study, the first of its kind on bones exposed to eruptive conditions, identified molecular signatures imprinted in surviving protein components and highlights potential biomarkers for forensic bone proteomics.

Ntasi, G., Palomo, I. R., Marino, G., Piaz, F. D., Cappellini, E., Birolo, L., & Petrone, P. (2022). Molecular signatures written in bone proteins of 79 AD victims from Herculaneum and Pompeii. Scientific Reports, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-12042-6