AMS dating and ancient DNA analysis of bone relics associated with St John the Baptist from Sveti Ivan (Sozopol, Bulgaria)

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AMS dating and ancient DNA analysis of bone relics associated with St John the Baptist from Sveti Ivan (Sozopol, Bulgaria). / Kostova, R.; Popkonstantinov, K.; Schroeder, H.; Willerslev, E.; Sultanov, A.; Kazan, G.; Higham, T.

In: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Vol. 29, 102082, 02.2020.

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Harvard

Kostova, R, Popkonstantinov, K, Schroeder, H, Willerslev, E, Sultanov, A, Kazan, G & Higham, T 2020, 'AMS dating and ancient DNA analysis of bone relics associated with St John the Baptist from Sveti Ivan (Sozopol, Bulgaria)', Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, vol. 29, 102082. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102082

APA

Kostova, R., Popkonstantinov, K., Schroeder, H., Willerslev, E., Sultanov, A., Kazan, G., & Higham, T. (2020). AMS dating and ancient DNA analysis of bone relics associated with St John the Baptist from Sveti Ivan (Sozopol, Bulgaria). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 29, [102082]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102082

Vancouver

Kostova R, Popkonstantinov K, Schroeder H, Willerslev E, Sultanov A, Kazan G et al. AMS dating and ancient DNA analysis of bone relics associated with St John the Baptist from Sveti Ivan (Sozopol, Bulgaria). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 2020 Feb;29. 102082. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102082

Author

Kostova, R. ; Popkonstantinov, K. ; Schroeder, H. ; Willerslev, E. ; Sultanov, A. ; Kazan, G. ; Higham, T. / AMS dating and ancient DNA analysis of bone relics associated with St John the Baptist from Sveti Ivan (Sozopol, Bulgaria). In: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 2020 ; Vol. 29.

Bibtex

@article{cefb2cbe1bf243d29a944e01517080ed,
title = "AMS dating and ancient DNA analysis of bone relics associated with St John the Baptist from Sveti Ivan (Sozopol, Bulgaria)",
abstract = "Excavations in 2010 on the Black Sea island of Sveti Ivan (Bulgaria) revealed the remains of a miniature marble sarcophagus containing human and animal remains, along with an inscribed tufa ossuary, beneath a 4th to 5th-century church floor. We found that the tufa ossuary had strong links with Cappadocian rhyolite tuff. The inscriptions on its surface suggest links to John the Baptist since they refer to him by name and contain a reference to his nativity date of June 24. The ancient Greek text also mentions him in the genitive case, i.e. {\textquoteleft}of Saint John{\textquoteright}. Here, we review the historical evidence pertaining to the relics and conclude that they most likely reached Sveti Ivan via Constantinople during the 4–5th century CE. To shed more light on the relics, we sampled three of the remains for radiocarbon dating and ancient DNA analysis. Radiocarbon dating of one of the bones (a metacarpal) yielded a first century AD date (5–75 cal AD, 68.2% probability). Ancient DNA analysis of this bone, as well as a rib fragment and a tooth, using shotgun sequencing yielded very little human DNA, ranging between 0 and 0.9% of sequenced reads. However, the DNA did not show any of the post-mortem damage patterns that are typical for ancient DNA. We conclude that the sequences we obtained are most likely the result of modern contamination.",
keywords = "AMS radiocarbon dating, Ancient DNA, Church archaeology, Early Christianity, Relics",
author = "R. Kostova and K. Popkonstantinov and H. Schroeder and E. Willerslev and A. Sultanov and G. Kazan and T. Higham",
year = "2020",
month = feb,
doi = "10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102082",
language = "English",
volume = "29",
journal = "Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports",
issn = "2352-409X",
publisher = "Elsevier",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - AMS dating and ancient DNA analysis of bone relics associated with St John the Baptist from Sveti Ivan (Sozopol, Bulgaria)

AU - Kostova, R.

AU - Popkonstantinov, K.

AU - Schroeder, H.

AU - Willerslev, E.

AU - Sultanov, A.

AU - Kazan, G.

AU - Higham, T.

PY - 2020/2

Y1 - 2020/2

N2 - Excavations in 2010 on the Black Sea island of Sveti Ivan (Bulgaria) revealed the remains of a miniature marble sarcophagus containing human and animal remains, along with an inscribed tufa ossuary, beneath a 4th to 5th-century church floor. We found that the tufa ossuary had strong links with Cappadocian rhyolite tuff. The inscriptions on its surface suggest links to John the Baptist since they refer to him by name and contain a reference to his nativity date of June 24. The ancient Greek text also mentions him in the genitive case, i.e. ‘of Saint John’. Here, we review the historical evidence pertaining to the relics and conclude that they most likely reached Sveti Ivan via Constantinople during the 4–5th century CE. To shed more light on the relics, we sampled three of the remains for radiocarbon dating and ancient DNA analysis. Radiocarbon dating of one of the bones (a metacarpal) yielded a first century AD date (5–75 cal AD, 68.2% probability). Ancient DNA analysis of this bone, as well as a rib fragment and a tooth, using shotgun sequencing yielded very little human DNA, ranging between 0 and 0.9% of sequenced reads. However, the DNA did not show any of the post-mortem damage patterns that are typical for ancient DNA. We conclude that the sequences we obtained are most likely the result of modern contamination.

AB - Excavations in 2010 on the Black Sea island of Sveti Ivan (Bulgaria) revealed the remains of a miniature marble sarcophagus containing human and animal remains, along with an inscribed tufa ossuary, beneath a 4th to 5th-century church floor. We found that the tufa ossuary had strong links with Cappadocian rhyolite tuff. The inscriptions on its surface suggest links to John the Baptist since they refer to him by name and contain a reference to his nativity date of June 24. The ancient Greek text also mentions him in the genitive case, i.e. ‘of Saint John’. Here, we review the historical evidence pertaining to the relics and conclude that they most likely reached Sveti Ivan via Constantinople during the 4–5th century CE. To shed more light on the relics, we sampled three of the remains for radiocarbon dating and ancient DNA analysis. Radiocarbon dating of one of the bones (a metacarpal) yielded a first century AD date (5–75 cal AD, 68.2% probability). Ancient DNA analysis of this bone, as well as a rib fragment and a tooth, using shotgun sequencing yielded very little human DNA, ranging between 0 and 0.9% of sequenced reads. However, the DNA did not show any of the post-mortem damage patterns that are typical for ancient DNA. We conclude that the sequences we obtained are most likely the result of modern contamination.

KW - AMS radiocarbon dating

KW - Ancient DNA

KW - Church archaeology

KW - Early Christianity

KW - Relics

U2 - 10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102082

DO - 10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102082

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85077340424

VL - 29

JO - Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

JF - Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

SN - 2352-409X

M1 - 102082

ER -

ID: 236509680