Summary: For the first time, ancient plant DNA has been extracted from a 2,900-year-old mudbrick from an Assyrian palace.
You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth. – Psalm 104:14 (ESV)
New Technological Possibilities
The recent development of new techniques for gathering and sequencing ancient DNA is providing valuable insights about civilizations that came before us. Archaeologists are just scratching the surface of the full potential of these innovative methods. These techniques are now being applied to one of ancient Israel’s fiercest neighbors – Assyria.
A research team from Denmark and the United Kingdom was able to successfully extract plant DNA from the inner core of a nearly 3,000-year-old clay brick, by adapting a protocol previously used for porous materials like bone. This is the first time such a feat has been achieved.
The unique brick came from the palace of Neo-Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal II, who ruled in modern day Nimrud, Iraq, between 883-859 BC. This special DNA sample, hidden and preserved for thousands of years, is a valuable time capsule of the unique plant life from this specific area and period.
“With this research we have made the pioneering discovery that ancient DNA, effectively protected from contamination inside a mass of clay, can successfully be extracted from a 2,900-year-old clay brick,” the study authors wrote in a paper published in August in Scientific Reports.
“We encourage future research into this subject, as the scientific prospects for this approach are substantial, potentially leading to a deeper understanding of ancient and lost civilizations,” the report continued.
Origins of the Palace Mudbrick
The palace brick was discovered during the 1949 British excavations of the city known today as Nimrud, formerly the ancient Assyrian city of Kalhu, called Calah in the Bible (Gen. 10:11-12). Assyriologist Jørgen Læssøe financially supported the project and was part of the excavation team. The objects found during the dig were donated to the National Museum of Denmark in 1958, including the mudbrick (museum #13854) being studied.
King Ashurnasirpal II ruled Assyria for a decade between 879 and 869 BC. He began construction on his Kalhu palace near the Tigris River at the beginning of his reign. Researchers can date the palace brick precisely, thanks to the cuneiform inscription written on it. In the extinct Semitic language Akkadian, the text states: “the property of the palace of Ashurnasirpal, king of Assyria.”
Assyria’s history spans from about 2000 BC when the cities of Nineveh and Kalhu were founded, to the destruction of Nineveh in 612 BC. Scholars believe they have dated the king’s reigns in the final centuries of this period quite accurately. Assyria occupied the middle and northern part of Mesopotamia, between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers.
Properties of the Mudbrick
Though they may appear solid, mudbricks are actually very delicate in nature. When the Assyrian brick first arrived at the Denmark Museum, it had, unfortunately, already split horizontally into two pieces. Then recently, during handling in 2020, the lower half of the brick was accidently broken again. This presented an opportunity for scientific study of the uncontaminated clay inside the brick. Five different samples were taken for research.
Ancient clay bricks from this area were mostly made of mud from the Tigris River, which was mixed with material such as chaff, straw or animal dung. After being shaped in a mold, they would then be left in the sun to harden. This particular brick was inscribed with cuneiform script before being dried by the sun. The genetic material within the clay was preserved for thousands of years due to the natural drying process used, versus burning which would have destroyed it.
“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 clay brick,” said the paper’s author, Dr. Sophie Lund Rasmussen from the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Biology, University of Oxford.
“This research project is a perfect example of the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in science, as the diverse expertise included in this study provided a holistic approach to the investigation of this material and the results it yielded,” she added. The team included Assyriologists, archaeologists, biologists and geneticists.
DNA Discoveries
After the extracted DNA had been sequenced, the researchers were able to compare their findings with modern-day plants from Iraq as well as ancient Assyrian plant descriptions. They identified 34 distinct taxonomic groups of plants. The largest group of plant families were Brassicaceae (cabbage) and Ericaceae (heather). Other plants represented were Betulaceae (birch), Lauraceae (laurels), Selineae (umbellifers) and Triticeae (cultivated grasses).
Many of these plants that grew in the region would have been cultivated and harvested as sources of food, medicine, ornamentation or fiber for making clothes, ropes and other useful items. The findings from the study give researchers an idea of which plants the ancient Assyrians relied on to meet their cultural and societal needs.
Assyria’s History and Biblical Connections
The Assyrian Empire dominated the ancient Near East throughout much of the 8th and 7th centuries BC, becoming the strongest military power in the world. At its height, Assyria spread out as far as today’s Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.
The capital city Nineveh was one of the greatest cities of ancient times. Archaeology has confirmed what the prophet said in Jonah 3:3; the city was so massive that it took three days to walk around it. Nineveh was home to a large botanical garden which the early Assyrian King Tiglath-pileser I (1100 BC) planted with trees and fauna he had collected from his many military campaigns.
The Assyrians were known for their brutality. A statement from King Ashurnasirpal II, who built the opulent palace where the brick being studied came from, reveals just how cruel the Assyrians could be:
I built a pillar against his gate, and I flayed all the chief men … and I covered the pillar with their skins … some I impaled upon the pillar on stakes. Many captives … I burned with fire … From some I cut off their hands and their fingers, and from others I cut off their noses, their ears … of many I put out the eyes. – Ashurnasirpal, 875 BC
Knowing this, it is understandable that when God told the prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach to the people there, Jonah refused. He wanted Nineveh to be destroyed and he knew God was merciful and would forgive the Ninevites if they repented, which is exactly what happened (Jonah 1:1-3; 3:10).
The Bible describes Assyria as a constant threat to Israel and a “rod of my anger” (Isaiah 10:5). Beginning in 733 BC, under King Tiglath-pileser III, the Hebrew Bible records how God used Assyria to punish the tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel for following other gods (1 Chronicles 5:23-26; 2 Kings 15:29).
The members of the half-tribe of Manasseh lived in the land.… But they broke faith with the God of their fathers, and whored after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, the spirit of Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and he took them into exile, namely, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan, to this day. – 1 Chron. 5:23a, 25-26
Later, in 721 BC, 2 Kings 18:9-12 recounts how the Assyrian king Shalmaneser besieged Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. It fell three years later. This event fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 10:5-19, that Assyria would be used for God’s judgment against the wayward Israelites. This was during the fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign in Judah.
The Assyrians amassed extravagant wealth by forcing conquered peoples to pay tribute and taxes. In 701 BC, the 14th year of Hezekiah’s reign, Assyrian King Sennacherib conquered 46 of Judah’s fortified cities (Isaiah 36:1) and laid siege to Jerusalem. King Hezekiah withstood the siege but still ended up paying enormous tribute and presents to the Assyrians.
Sennacherib explained the tribute he gained from Hezekiah in his own words on a tablet that was discovered by archaeologists: “He sent [a convoy] after me to Nineveh, my royal city with 30 talents of gold, 800 talents of silver, jewels, antimony … couches of ivory, easy chairs inlaid with ivory, elephants’ hides, elephants’ tusks … all kinds of valuable treasures, and his daughters, his harem, and male and female singers.”
Even though he boasted of his tribute, Sennacherib was humbled when God ended his siege on Jerusalem by killing 185,000 Assyrians in one night (Isaiah 37:36). Later, when Sennacherib had returned to Nineveh he was killed by his own sons as he worshiped his god Nisroch (Isaiah 37:38).
The Assyrian Empire eventually began to crumble from within. Fighting between King Assurbanipal and his brother weakened the nation, opening it up to foreign invaders. In 612 BC, Nineveh was destroyed by the Medes from the Iranian Plateau and the Chaldeans of Babylon. It never rose again, and its location was forgotten until the 19th century when British archaeologist Sir Austen Layard began uncovering its remains.
Future Possibilities of Hidden DNA
The fascinating study of the Assyrian palace brick explored only the plant DNA extracted, as these were the most prevalent and best-preserved specimens. However, depending on the sample, other organisms could potentially be identified, including vertebrates and invertebrates.
The ability to provide accurate descriptions of ancient biodiversity is a valuable tool which will lead to more in-depth research within archaeology. These new scientific advancements can help researchers better understand and quantify present day biodiversity loss leading to a deeper comprehension of ancient and lost societies.
Clay materials are nearly always present in archaeological sites around the world, and their context can often be dated with high precision. Now that scientists know that these objects may have absorbed and preserved DNA samples from plants, animals, insects and even humans, any such items could be used as source materials for genetic research.
Conclusion
In addition to the fascinating insight this Assyrian brick revealed, the research serves as a proof of concept and method which can be applied to many other archaeological sources of clay from various places and time periods around the world.
“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 a unique access to the ancient Assyrians,” said Dr. Troels Arbøll, joint first author of the paper and junior research fellow at Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford.
Studying ancient DNA has exciting potential for scientists from many different fields. Those who share an interest in lost civilizations and ecosystems can benefit from these new avenues of exploration. This includes helping to answer questions about the world of the Bible.
Keep Thinking!
TOP PHOTO: The clay brick from the National Museum of Denmark and from which scientists have extracted ancient plant DNA. (credit: Troels Pank Arbøll, University of Copenhagen)
