Identity of Pompeii’s mystery horse revealed

The identity of a mysterious breed of "horse" which has baffled experts since its remains were uncovered at Pompeii has been resolved by a Cambridge University researcher - who realised it was a donkey. Academics initially believed that they had unearthed a new, now-extinct, breed of horse when they analysed DNA sequences from skeletons found at a house in the ancient Roman town in 2004. But Susan Gurney, working with Dr Peter Forster on horse genetics at the University of Cambridge, revisited the study and found that their initial excitement was misplaced. Writing in the new issue of the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry, Gurney, from the University's Institute of Continuing Education, explains that there appears to have been a mix-up in the lab, which resulted in horse DNA being combined with that of a donkey to create an artificial hybrid. The research could still prove important, however, as the newly identified donkey may well be the first proof that the "Somali" ass lineage normally found in Italy dates back to at least Roman times. The original study six years ago analysed the skeletons of equids that belonged to a rich Roman household in Pompeii. All five were well preserved by the volcanic ash which covered Pompeii and the nearby settlement of Herculaneum when Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD79.