Nuclear Family Is Not A Given

New data using DNA from victims of the Pompeii eruption has highlighted the distorted conception our civilisation has been attempting to impose nuclear family as the forever and unique and culturally superior vision of family.

The DNA obtained on the corpses still intact from the eruption and the plaster cast has shown people in arms found under the same roof thought to be a parent and their child are not related. First of all, adoption was a trend at the time explaining some parenthood not being blood relationship. While we can deconstruct the idea on nuclear blood-related families leaving their final moments in each other’s arms, it does not necessarily mean households at the time were a mix of individuals living together. The reality is roman households were also the home of slaves and it was common practice for masters and slaves to live with their families together under the same roof.