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Now, the diggers are progressively pulling away the volcanic ash and pea-sized stones, known as lapilli that smothered Pompeii during the two catastrophic days of the Vesuvian eruption.

Though it falls into a fairly common category of images of food called “xenia” — offerings for guests — it is not like most of the roughly 300 examples that have been found in Vesuvian cities.

It is believed to have been looted from Herculaneum, a settlement buried in the Vesuvian eruption of 79 A.D., and decades ago was tracked by investigators to the apartment of Michael H. Steinhardt, a prominent New York venture capitalist and a major ancient art collector.

“The study is exciting because it shows that DNA is preserved from the towns buried by the Vesuvian eruption despite high temperatures,” said David Reich, a Harvard geneticist, who was not involved in the research.

The scientists behind the September study possibly hinting at life in the Vesuvian clouds based their findings on the presence of the toxic gas phosphine.