Shipwrecks provide invaluable insights into human society and trade. Their unique preservation conditions also mean that they can serve as exceptional biobanks, recording traces of organisms carried aboard or arriving post wreck. Yet only limited research has explored the genetic potential of onboard sediments. Here, the authors present environmental and metagenomic analyses of sediments contained in a large amphora from the 150-year-old Yangzi Estuary II shipwreck. Weaving the results with historic texts, they reconstruct part of the history of the wrecked vessel, elucidating cargo-packing techniques, its likely season and port of sailing, and its ultimate submersion within the estuarine environment.
Guo et al. (Sun,) studied this question.