The 'two maidens' of Pompeii may have been GAY LOVERS, scientists say

As Mount Vesuvius erupted with molten rock and ash 2,000 years ago, two doomed residents of Pompeii clutched each other in their final moments. 

Trapped in an eternal embrace, they have been come to be known as 'The Two Maidens'. 

However, new DNA analysis on the bodies suggests that the iconic pair might need a new name. 

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute found that at least one, if not both of the people were men. 

David Reich, one of the authors of the new study, said: 'A pair of individuals thought to be sisters, or mother and daughter, were found to include at least one genetic male. 

'These findings challenge traditional gender and familial assumptions.'

While the true nature of their relationship remains unclear, experts say they may have been gay lovers.  

Massimo Osanna, superintendent of the Pompeii archaeological site, previously said: 'The fact that they were lovers is a hypothesis that cannot be dismissed.'

Pompeii was covered in ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, killing everyone in its path and burying the area.

The town was forgotten until its rediscovery in the 1700s when researchers found dozens of bodies that had been preserved from the soot and ash that covered the streets, buildings and people.

The victims' soft tissue had decayed over the millennia, but their outlines remained intact and were recovered by filling the cavities with plaster - preserving their DNA.

When the bodies were first discovered, researchers looked at their positioning in relation to each other as well as the location which led to assumptions about their relationships to one another. 

During the 1914 Pompeii excavations, nine individuals were discovered in a home's garden, two of which were found close to each other in an embrace.

At the time, archaeologists said there were three possibilities for their relationship: they were mother and daughter, two sisters or lovers.

However, the new study suggests that at least one of the pair was actually a man. 

Writing in their study, published in Current Biology, the researchers said: 'CT scanning of skeletal elements preserved within the casts led to an age estimate of 14–19 for individual 21 and a young adult age for individual 22.

'The nuclear genetic analysis was successful only for individual 22 and revealed that he was male, excluding the possibility that the pair of victims were sisters or mother and daughter.'

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New DNA analysis of Pompeii victims reveals shocking truth about who they really were

While the nature of their relationship remains unclear, previous studies have suggested that they may have been gay lovers. 

For example, experts point out their suggestive positioning, with one of the pair's head rested on the other's chest. 

However, experts have previously said that their relationship can 'never be verified.'

'When this discovery was made, that they were not two young girls, some scholars suggested there could have been an emotional connection between the pair,' said Professor Stefano Vanacore, who led a research team examining the pair back in 2017. 

'But we are talking about hypotheses that can never be verified.

'What is certain is that the two parties were not relatives, neither brothers, nor a father and son.'

How Pompeii and Herculaneum were wiped off the map by devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius 2,000 years ago

What happened?  

Mount Vesuvius erupted in the year AD 79, burying the cities of Pompeii, Oplontis, and Stabiae under ashes and rock fragments, and the city of Herculaneum under a mudflow. 

Mount Vesuvius, on the west coast of Italy, is the only active volcano in continental Europe and is thought to be one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world.  

Every single resident died instantly when the southern Italian town was hit by a 500°C pyroclastic hot surge.

Pyroclastic flows are a dense collection of hot gas and volcanic materials that flow down the side of an erupting volcano at high speed.

They are more dangerous than lava because they travel faster, at speeds of around 450mph (700 km/h), and at temperatures of 1,000°C.

An administrator and poet called Pliny the younger watched the disaster unfold from a distance. 

Letters describing what he saw were found in the 16th century.  

His writing suggests that the eruption caught the residents of Pompeii unaware.

He said that a column of smoke 'like an umbrella pine' rose from the volcano and made the towns around it as black as night.

People ran for their lives with torches, screaming and some wept as rain of ash and pumice fell for several hours.  

While the eruption lasted for around 24 hours, the first pyroclastic surges began at midnight, causing the volcano's column to collapse.

An avalanche of hot ash, rock and poisonous gas rushed down the side of the volcano at 124mph (199kph), burying victims and remnants of everyday life.  

Hundreds of refugees sheltering in the vaulted arcades at the seaside in Herculaneum, clutching their jewelry and money, were killed instantly.

As people fled Pompeii or hid in their homes, their bodies were covered by blankets of the surge.

While Pliny did not estimate how many people died, the event was said to be 'exceptional' and the number of deaths is thought to exceed 10,000.

What have they found?

This event ended the life of the cities but at the same time preserved them until rediscovery by archaeologists nearly 1700 years later.

The excavation of Pompeii, the industrial hub of the region and Herculaneum, a small beach resort, has given unparalleled insight into Roman life.

Archaeologists are continually uncovering more from the ash-covered city.

In May archaeologists uncovered an alleyway of grand houses, with balconies left mostly intact and still in their original hues.

Some of the balconies even had amphorae - the conical-shaped terra cotta vases that were used to hold wine and oil in ancient Roman times.

The discovery has been hailed as a 'complete novelty' - and the Italian Culture Ministry hopes they can be restored and opened to the public.

Upper stores have seldom been found among the ruins of the ancient town, which was destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius volcano and buried under up to six meters of ash and volcanic rubble.

Around 30,000 people are believed to have died in the chaos, with bodies still being discovered to this day.