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Probing Ancient Shipwrecks with DNA

From World Science
15 October, 2007

Studying an ancient Greek shipwreck, scientists say, they’ve found they can decode ancient DNA to learn about the original contents of jars sunken for over 2,000 years.

Ancient Mediterranean civilizations, some of the world’s earliest, often used ceramic jars called amphorae as shipping containers. Invented by the Canaanites of the Near East in the 16th century B.C., amphorae took on varied styles in different regions and time periods, wrote Hansson and a colleague in a paper reporting their work.

Piles of amphorae often remain as lone, mute witnesses to ancient shipwrecks where the boats themselves have been long since eaten away. But researchers trying to learn the jars’ original contents usually come up dry, according to Hansson and colleague Brendan Foley of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. That’s because the amphorae only infrequently contain visible clues, such as olive pits. Ancient DNA molecules, though degraded with time, could supply some of the needed evidence, wrote the pair, whose findings appear in the advance online edition of The Journal of Archaeological Science.

The researchers scraped ceramic from inside two amphorae from a 4th-century B.C. shipwreck found near the Greek island of Chios in 2004. The wreck, about 60 meters (200 feet) underwater, has drawn headlines before because—being to deep to explore by conventional diving—investigators have mapped it using robotic devices.
Adding another new technology to the project, Hansson and Foley analyzed small DNA fragments found trapped in the pottery.

Read the rest of the article...


	Home What is aDNA? Sample Requirements Database About aDNA.info Current Research Contact Information Links aDNA News Archive		Ancient DNA News Archive Probing Ancient Shipwrecks with DNA From World Science 15 October, 2007 Studying an ancient Greek shipwreck, scientists say, they’ve found they can decode ancient DNA to learn about the original contents of jars sunken for over 2,000 years. Ancient Mediterranean civilizations, some of the world’s earliest, often used ceramic jars called amphorae as shipping containers. Invented by the Canaanites of the Near East in the 16th century B.C., amphorae took on varied styles in different regions and time periods, wrote Hansson and a colleague in a paper reporting their work. Piles of amphorae often remain as lone, mute witnesses to ancient shipwrecks where the boats themselves have been long since eaten away. But researchers trying to learn the jars’ original contents usually come up dry, according to Hansson and colleague Brendan Foley of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. That’s because the amphorae only infrequently contain visible clues, such as olive pits. Ancient DNA molecules, though degraded with time, could supply some of the needed evidence, wrote the pair, whose findings appear in the advance online edition of The Journal of Archaeological Science. The researchers scraped ceramic from inside two amphorae from a 4th-century B.C. shipwreck found near the Greek island of Chios in 2004. The wreck, about 60 meters (200 feet) underwater, has drawn headlines before because—being to deep to explore by conventional diving—investigators have mapped it using robotic devices. Adding another new technology to the project, Hansson and Foley analyzed small DNA fragments found trapped in the pottery. Read the rest of the article...

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Probing Ancient Shipwrecks with DNA