Metagenomic peek into a corn mummy

Abstract

Numerous studies have shown that metagenomics has opened up a new dimension in reading the contents of archaeological remains as time capsules. Corn mummies are ritual objects made in ancient Egypt by forming human-shaped figures made of cereal grains grown in a mixture of water and earth. We performed metagenomic analyses on samples from a corn mummy dated to the second half of the 3rd century BC. Alongside a number of clearly modern contaminants, we identified organisms that cannot be excluded as being of historical origin. Besides considerable amounts of bacterial sequences belonging to the generaBacillus, Coprococcus, Metabacillus, NialliaandRoseburia, we also found traces of plants, animals, and humans. Sequences assigned to the genusTriticumshowed the highest similarity to ancientT. turgidumssp.dicoccumspecimens from Egypt and the southern Levant. Sequences classified in the genusPopulusshowed the highest identity with the genome ofP. nigra. The fragments that were identified as being of Lepidopteran origin showed the greatest similarity to the genomes of the Sphingidae. Haplotype analysis ofH. sapienssequences suggests haplogroups L3 and E, based on the mitogenome and Y chromosome, respectively, which are the two common lineages in sub-Saharan Africa today.