DNA reveals 1,000-year-old shipwreck in East China stored yam

HANGZHOU -- New DNA analysis of soil sediments from a Song Dynasty (960-1279) shipwreck unearthed along the shore of Wenzhou city in East China's Zhejiang province has revealed that yams were once stored in the vessel's cabin.

With the scientific name Dioscorea, the glutinous yam remains a distinctive agricultural product of Wenzhou.

Wen Shaoqing, an associate professor at Fudan University's Institute of Scientific Archaeology, announced the new discovery at a press conference on Thursday.

Since the excavation began in October 2021, a trove of important relics has been found, including an ancient city gate, a barbican, city walls, docks, sunken ships, houses, wooden walkways and porcelain wares.

Among these, the shipwreck where molecular evidence of yam was discovered was located at a wharf north of the main city gate of the Shuomen Ancient Port Site. Buried about 10 meters underground, it lay beneath more than four meters of mud.

The vessel, with a hull measuring 25.68 meters long, 4.86 meters wide and 2.52 meters high, was built with exquisite materials and craftsmanship. The relic provides valuable material for research into ancient Chinese ships.

Liang Yanhua, director of the Wenzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that the shipwreck was salvaged and relocated for research and protection in July.

The archaeological project involved experts and scholars from China's leading research institutions and universities, such as the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Heritage Administration, the Wenzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and Fudan University.

According to Wang Hao, an associate researcher at the Archaeological Research Center of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the vessel's primary material is fir, supplemented by camphor wood and cypress.

Researchers are analyzing the materials and formulating a conservation plan to restore the ancient vessel.

Using molecular archaeology technology, researchers also discovered that three human bone samples from the sunken ship were all male. Their ancestral origins were linked to the Neolithic populations of the middle reaches of the Yellow River, supporting the earlier hypothesis that the population at Wenzhou Port on China's east coast was a mixture of northern and southern groups.

A rich variety of molecular evidence from both animals and plants was also uncovered at the site.