Thanks zeestephen!
Posted on 08/28/2023 3:05:12 AM PDT by zeestephen
For the first time, researchers have been able to extract DNA fragments from an ancient clay brick...When this brick was made some 2,900 years ago in what is now northern Iraq, the process would have involved mixing mud from the banks of the Tigris river...Small plant particles amid the animal waste and straw can remain protected inside the brick for millennia...The team concentrated on plant DNA because it was the most well preserved, but the same techniques could be used to look for animal DNA...
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
"In this case, the fact the clay brick had been left to dry naturally rather than fired helped preserve its organic contents, as did the taking of the sample from the middle of the brick where the material was well protected."
To read the [very long] original study...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-38191-w
"Ancient Brick From 2,900 Years Ago Turns Out to Be [Plant] aDNA Time Capsule"
Interesting. Can you give a 1-3 sentence summary of the most interesting findings from the brick?
Was it a brick from the Tower of Babel? 😂😁😄😆
bkmk
Almost all the DNA came from edible plants.
Apparently, there are many well preserved documents from that time and place that discuss food, so the scientists have been able to match up the DNA with what plants were being cultivated and consumed, by animals and humans, in that time period.
The most exciting part - when we start to isolate human DNA from the bricks, we will be able to trace human and animal migration going back almost 10,000 years.
It will be interesting if they can pull human dna from the bricks because the ancient sumerians were an isolate people. They were not of the prevailing semetic stock of the time—as were the Akkadians to their north. From what I’ve read, its unclear just what kind of people the sumerians were or where they were from. Modern marsh arabs who inhabit the same area as the ancient sumerians —and even built their boats in the same way as ancient sumerians— have a similar mix of genetics as surrounding areas. So they don’t seem to be of the same stock as the original sumerians....anyhow that’s my understanding of what I’ve read so far on the subject. Maybe you have a different take?
Thanks zeestephen!
Made bricks with straw?......................
Further DNA results find it wasn’t a brick just called on.
Community dumping ground found.
Made bricks with straw?.
The straw is kind of a rebar for unfired bricks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
