Ancient 2,900 year-old clay brick becomes a time capsule of ancient DNA

Almost 2,900 years ago, a brickmaker prepared a clay brick that was used in the construction of a new palace dedicated to his King Ashurnasirpal II (approximately 883–859 BCE). All these years later, the scientists at the University of Oxford, using that innocuous brick, have managed to successfully extract ancient DNA from it, revealing details of the flora from this specific area and time, and serving as a time capsule.

The study published in Nature Scientific Reports offers a rare insight into the diversity of plant species during the said era. The scientists found the 'time capsule' near the river Tigris, outside the ancient city of Kalhu, known today as Nimrud in Iran.

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"We were absolutely thrilled to discover that ancient DNA, effectively protected from contamination inside a mass of clay, can successfully be extracted from a 2,900-year-old brick," said biologist Sophie Lund Rasmussen from the University of Oxford.

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The astonishing brick is currently being kept at the National Museum of Denmark and was donated in 1958 by the Rask Ørsted Foundation. It was discovered during the British excavations of Nimrud, beginning in 1949.

Brassicaceae (the cabbage and mustard family) and Ericaceae (heather) were the plant families with the most abundant DNA in the brick. Genetic material from Selineae (the family containing carrots and parsley), Betulaceae (birch), Lauraceae (laurels) and Triticeae (cultivated grasses) was also found.

A pioneering study

The pioneering study could pave the way for similar studies on clay material from various sites and time periods. Although the team of researchers focused on plant DNA as it is most well-preserved, the same technique could be used to search for animal DNA.

"Because of the inscription on the brick, we can allocate the clay to a relatively specific period of time in a particular region, which means the brick serves as a biodiversity time-capsule of information regarding a single site and its surroundings. In this case, it provides researchers with unique access to the ancient Assyrians," said Dr Troels Arb¸ll, joint first author of the paper.

Notably, during the study in 2020, the lower half of the brick unfortunately split vertically into two pieces. Despite the split, the accident "presented an opportunity for a scientific study of uncontaminated clay that could be dated with relative certainty", the research paper stated.

(With inputs from agencies)

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