NEWS IN FOCUS BRETT SEYMOUR, EUA/WHOI/ARGO BRETT

Divers examine human bones excavated from the .

ARCHAEOLOGY Human skeleton found on famed Antikythera wreck Two-thousand-year-old bones could yield first DNA from an ancient shipwreck victim.

BY JO MARCHANT, ANTIKYTHERA, motions of the Sun, Moon and planets in the nuggets behind the ear that preserve DNA sky — dubbed1 the ‘’. better than other parts of the skeleton or the annes Schroeder snaps on two pairs But on 31 August this year, investigators made teeth. “It’s amazing you guys found that,” of blue latex gloves, then wipes his another groundbreaking discovery: a human Schroeder says. “If there’s any DNA, then from hands with a solution of bleach. In skeleton, buried under around half a metre of what we know, it’ll be there.” Hfront of him is a large Tupperware box full of pottery sherds and sand. “We’re thrilled,” says Schroeder agrees to go ahead with DNA plastic bags that each contain sea water and a Brendan Foley, an underwater archaeologist at extraction when permission is granted by the piece of red-stained bone. He lifts one out and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Mas- Greek authorities. It would take about a week inspects its contents as several archaeologists sachusetts, and co-director of the excavations to find out whether the sample contains any hover behind, waiting for his verdict. They’re team. “We don’t know of anything else like it.” DNA, he says: then perhaps a couple of months hoping he can pull off a feat never attempted Within days of the find, Foley invited to sequence it and analyse the results. before — DNA analysis on someone who has Schroeder, an expert in ancient-DNA analysis For Schroeder, the discovery gives him the been under the sea for 2,000 years. from the Natural History Museum of Den- chance to push the boundaries of ancient-DNA Through the window, sunlight sparkles on mark in Copenhagen, to assess whether genetic studies. So far, most have been conducted on cobalt water. The researchers are on the tiny material might be extracted from the bones. On samples from cold climates such as northern Greek island of Antikythera, a 10-minute boat his way to Antikythera, Schroeder was doubt- Europe. “I’ve been trying to push the applica- ride from the wreckage of a 2,000-year-old ful. But as he removes the bones from their bags tion of ancient DNA into environments where merchant ship. Discovered by sponge divers he is pleasantly surprised. The material is a little people don’t usually look for DNA,” he says. in 1900, the wreck was the first ever inves- chalky, but overall looks well preserved. “It (He was part of a team that last year published tigated by archaeologists. Its most famous doesn’t look like bone that’s 2,000 years old,” he the first Mediterranean ancient genome, of a bounty to date has been a surprisingly sophis- says. Then, sifting through several large pieces Neolithic individual from Spain2.) ticated clockwork device that modelled the of skull, he finds both petrous bones — dense Foley and the archaeologists, meanwhile, are

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elated by the chance to learn more about samples using state-of-the-art techniques the people on board the first-century bc ANCIENT BOUNTY has barely been tried. (Analyses were con- ship, which carried luxury items from An underwater shelf near the Greek island of ducted on skeletons from the Mary Rose Antikythera marks where a ship sank in the rst the eastern Mediterranean, probably century BC. In 1900, it became the rst shipwreck and the Vasa, but specialists no longer see intended for wealthy buyers in Rome. to be investigated by archaeologists. Among the those methods — based on amplifying site’s nds are a sophisticated clockwork device Large DNA using a method called PCR — as — the ‘Antikythera mechanism’ — and, most anchor RARE DISCOVERY recently, a human skeleton. reliable, because it is too difficult to dis- The skeleton discovery is a rare find, tinguish ancient DNA from modern agrees Mark Dunkley, an underwater Selected nds 1976 2014–16 contamination.) Exceptions include archaeologist from the London-based Location of 1900–01 nds not recorded analyses on 8,000-year-old wheat from heritage organization Historic England. a submerged site off the English coast Unless covered by sediment or otherwise Human (although these results have been ques- protected, the bodies of shipwreck vic- remains tioned because the DNA did not show tims are usually swept away and decay, or the expected age-related damage4), and Gold ring are eaten by fish. Complete skeletons have Amphora eld mitochondrial DNA from a 12,000-year- been recovered from younger ships, such old skeleton found in a freshwater sink- Silver coins as the sixteenth-century English warship hole in Mexico5. the Mary Rose and the seventeenth-cen- Statuettes Finding undisturbed remains such as The Glassware tury Vasa in Sweden. Both sank in mud, ‘honey hole’ those at Antikythera is crucial because it Bone ute close to port. But “the farther you go back, Gold ring offers the opportunity to extract any DNA Marble hand Glassware the rarer it is”, says Dunkley. Human remains in the best possible condition. Previously Only a handful of examples of human HUMAN Gold earrings salvaged bones are not ideal for analysis remains have been found on ancient REMAINS because they have often been washed, wrecks, says archaeologist Dimitris War dolphin treated with conservation mater­ials or SOURCE: STEFAN WILLIAMS, AUSTRALIAN CENTRE FOR FIELD ROBOTICS; ALEX TOURTAS, EUA/WHOI/ARGO ALEX TOURTAS, FIELD ROBOTICS; CENTRE FOR WILLIAMS, AUSTRALIAN SOURCE: STEFAN Kourkoumelis of the Greek Ephorate of kept in warm conditions (all of which can Underwater Antiquities, who collabo- destroy fragile DNA), or handled in a way rates with Foley. They include a skull that contaminates them. Two bronze found inside a Roman soldier’s helmet spears Schroeder guesses from the skeleton’s near Sardinia, and a skeleton reportedly fairly robust femur and unworn teeth discovered inside a sunken sarcophagus Depth 45 m 60 m that the individual was a young man. As near the Greek island of Syrna (although well as confirming the person’s gender, the bones disappeared before the find 5 m DNA from the Antikythera bones could could be confirmed). provide information about characteris- In fact, the best-documented example tics from hair and eye colour to ancestry is the Antikythera wreck itself: scattered bones more bones are still under the sand. and geographic origin. In the past few years, were found by the French marine explorer That so many individuals have been found at modern genome sequences have revealed that , who excavated here in 1976. Antikythera — when most wrecks yield none genetic variation in populations mirrors geog- Argyro Nafplioti, an osteoarchaeologist at the — may be partly because few other wrecks raphy, says Schroeder. He and others are now University of Cambridge, UK, concluded that have been as exhaustively investigated. But starting to look at how ancient individuals fit on the remains came from at least four individu- the researchers think it also reveals something that map, to reconstruct past population move- als, including a young man, a woman and a about how the ship sank. This was a huge vessel ments. Would the shipwreck victim look more teenager of unknown sex3. for its time, perhaps more than 40 metres long, Greek-Italian or Near Eastern, he wonders? At the wreck site, only broken pots now says Foley, with multiple decks and many people Over dinner, the researchers decide to remain on the sea floor — the sponge divers on board. The wreck is close to shore, at the foot nickname the bones’ owner Pamphilos, after recovered all artefacts visible on the seabed in of the island’s steep cliffs. He concludes that a a name found neatly scratched on a wine cup 1900–01. But Foley thinks that much of the storm smashed the ship against the rocks so that from the wreck. “Your mind starts spinning,” ship’s cargo may be buried under the sediment. it broke up and sank before people had a chance says Schroeder. “Who were those people who His team, including expert technical divers and to react. “We think it was such a violent wreck- crossed the Mediterranean 2,000 years ago? members of the Greek archaeological service, ing event, people got trapped below decks.” Maybe one of them was the astronomer who relocated and mapped the 50-metre-deep site owned the mechanism.” ■ before beginning their own excavations in MEDITERRANEAN MYSTERY 2014. They have found items such as wine jars, The individuals found at Antikythera could 1. Freeth, T. et al. Nature 444, 587–591 (2006). 2. Olalde, I. et al. Mol. Biol. Evol. 32, 3132–3142 (2015). glassware, two bronze spears from statues, gold be from the crew, which would probably have 3. Nafplioti, A. in The Antikythera Shipwreck: The Ship, jewellery and table jugs used by the crew (see consisted of 15–20 people on a ship this size. the Treasures, the Mechanism (eds Kaltsas, N. et al.) ‘Ancient bounty’). The divers have also recov- Greek and Roman merchant ships also com- 57–60 (Natl Archaeol. Mus., , 2012). 4. Weiss, C. L., Dannemann, M., Prüfer, K. & ered ship components including enormous monly carried passengers, and sometimes Burbano, H. A. eLife http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/ anchors and a teardrop-shaped lead weight, slaves. One reason people get trapped inside eLife.10005 (2015). found in June, that may be the first known is if they are chained, points out 5. Chatters, J. C. et al. Science 344, 750–754 (2014). example of what ancient texts describe as a Dunkley. “The crew would be able to get off ‘war dolphin’ — a defensive weapon carried by relatively fast. Those shackled would have merchant vessels to smash hostile ships. no opportunity to escape.” Intriguingly, the CORRECTION The skeleton uncovered in August con- recently discovered bones were surrounded The News story ‘Nobel Assembly deals with sists of a partial skull with three teeth, two by corroded iron objects, so far unidentified; scandal’ (Nature 537, 289–290; 2016) arm bones, several rib pieces and two femurs, the iron oxide has stained the bones amber red. erroneously gave Stockholm as the location all apparently from the same person. Foley’s Schroeder says that because ancient under- for all of the Nobel prize ceremonies. team plans further excavations to see whether water remains are so rare, DNA analysis on such

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