clipped from: www.livescience.com By Charles Q. Choi, Special to LiveScience
posted: 08 November 2007 07:25 am ET
Genetic analysis has revealed the contents of an ancient shipwreck dating back to the era of the Roman Republic and Athenian Empire. The cargo was olive oil flavored with oregano.
Beyond discovering ingredients for Italian salad dressing on the sea floor, such research could provide a wealth of insights concerning the everyday life of ancient seafaring civilizations that would otherwise be lost at sea.
The shipwreck's contents, revealed in early 2006, has now been more fully analyzed. By deploying a robot to the wreck to collect two amphoras —two-handled earthenware jars often used by ancient Greeks and Romans—they were able to obtain DNA samples by scraping the insides of the ceramics.
