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In a jointly authored paper published by Woods Hole, "Ancient DNA in Ceramic Artifacts: Determining Original Contents," Foley and Hansson described the discovery as a "powerful new tool for archaeology" which when perfected, would "allow a broad range of scholars to routinely identify the original contents of ceramic vessels and open entirely novel avenues of scientific inquiry." Since ceramic artifacts are ubiquitous on archaeological sites, they expressed hope that these tests could open new windows into ancient agricultural production and food preparation, as well as into the trade networks and economies of early civilizations. Ancient DNA evidence could one day yield new knowledge about when and where certain crops were introduced and flourished, they suggested, and lead to a better understanding of ancient climate conditions.

"The beauty of the modern molecular methods and processes we use are that whether it is salmon DNA or plant DNA, modern or ancient, DNA is always DNA, with their sequences ...that we can look for," Hansson says. Every species has a unique DNA code and in certain regions of the DNA, scientists can detect the species from trace amounts. While the ancient DNA samples were degraded and in smaller pieces than what Hansson usually analyzes, they yielded clear results.

The ancient DNA story was widely covered in the science media and some general mass media in the U.S., Sweden and Greece. Foley has since attended many conferences and delivered lectures about the research, as well as fielded inquiries from fellow researchers who would like to replicate their results. Hansson attributes her promotion in 2008 to her current position, which requires interdisciplinary research, in part to her successful role in the discovery. She has applied for a grant to support DNA testing of another 40 amphoras from the Classical Age, recovered by Greek researchers over the past half century in the Aegean and Ionian seas.

"The whole idea of publishing in the international Journal of Archaeological Science was to provide other scientists with the information about how our analyses were conducted," says Hansson. "Brendan and I will continue to work together, primarily with Greek shipwreck artifacts, but I am sure that I can be of help if shipwrecks from other parts of the Mediterranean are made available to him and me."

The olive and oregano found in one amphora generated humorous headlines in the popular media such as "Ingredients for Salad Dressing Found in 2,400-year-old Shipwreck" and also surprised historians and archaeologists. While Chios was renowned for its wines in ancient times, the island was not known to have produced and exported olive oil or used oregano as a preservative or for flavoring.

"These are the kind of wonderful serendipitous discoveries that can happen when people from different disciplines talk to each other," says Foley.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution sits at the end of a narrow peninsula, its campus an interesting mix of modern and industrial buildings and former New England-style homes. Since 1930, when the institution began its commitment to "research and higher education at the frontiers of ocean science," it has overtaken much of its namesake village's two square miles and become the largest independent ocean research center in the world.

In the foyer of Woods Hole's main building, a small group of staff and graduate students huddle around a table, where warmed-up leftovers from a holiday party have just been laid out. The receptionist breaks away to call Brendan Foley, an internationally known researcher whose name she is unfamiliar with, and within five minutes he arrives from across campus, bundled up against the December chill.

Tall and broad-shouldered, Foley, who had just turned 40, has a small shock of white in his dark cropped hair that offsets his friendly, boyish face. On the way back to his office, he stops to chat with an engineer about the research vehicle he's working on, and with a bunch of graduate students about an old boat they can have if they can just move it. He greets another colleague and pats her lovely Golden Retriever before heading up the stairs to the third floor, recently designated as the exclusive domain of Ph.D. offices. "I don't agree with that," he says without elaboration.

Since the Chios shipwreck, Foley's team and their Greek colleagues have expanded their partnership, inspecting several more recent shipwrecks and conducting field trials of new technologies. At a high point in his career, Foley is enthusiastic about his summer 2009 plans to continue research in the Aegean Sea and to work with Hansson in Sweden to hone and expand DNA testing on ancient amphoras.

He's also gained the first of several required permits to conduct an expedition in shallow waters off the coast of Egypt this fall with Emad Khahil, a former colleague from the University of Southampton who is trying to build the first marine laboratory in the Arab world in Egypt. Deep-water vehicles can explore shipwrecks at a depth of up to 6000 meters, but they work just as well in shallow waters, Foley notes, and can survey sites faster and more efficiently than scuba-diving researchers do.

"Egypt has the only natural harbor along this coastline, and there's a high probability of finding Bronze Age shipwrecks there," says Foley. "No one's ever looked. We're going to need examples of dozens or possibly hundreds of Bronze Age shipwrecks and at least a decade to get where I want us to be. It's a tall order, but you have to have lofty goals."

Yet Foley is as generous as he is ambitious, always interested in sharing his knowledge and access to the tools of technology.

"I feel like Johnny Appleseed, planting the seeds for a new age of discovery. Ultimately, I want to spread our methods, spread our technology and map the entire Mediterranean Sea. I want deep-water archaeology to make a mark and leave the tools and methods behind for the next generation of researchers," he says. "If I can do that I can be a force multiplier (an engineering term for catalyst).

Despite all the progress he and his colleagues have made in shaping and bringing credibility to the field of deep-water archaeology, Foley gracefully acknowledges his mortality and the breadth of the challenges ahead.

"I believe it's going to take 25 to 30 years before we and our colleagues overseas realize our ultimate goals, and in the end, it probably won't be us who reaches them. When people have forgotten Brendan Foley, Dimitris Kourkoumelis, Theotokis Theodoulou and Emad Khahil, the next generation of archaeologists will have the resources and knowledge to begin to discern the origins of western civilization," he says. "If that's not happening, I will have failed."

Kimberly Swick Slover is director of communications at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, N.H., and a former editor of UNH Magazine.

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