10 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Researchers sequenced the DNA 1,600-year-old sheep mummy from an ancient Iranian salt mine, Chehrabad

A multinational team of geneticists and archaeologists sequenced the DNA from a 1,600-year-old sheep mummy discovered from Chehrabad, a salt mine in Iran.

This unique specimen has revealed ancient Near Eastern sheep husbandry techniques and highlighted how natural mummification might impact DNA degradation.

Research results were just published in the peer-reviewed international journal Biology Letters.

The Chehrabad salt mine is notable for preserving biological material. The new research confirms that this natural mummification process – where water is removed from a corpse, preserving soft tissues that would otherwise be degraded – also conserved animal remains.

The Trinity geneticist-led research team took advantage of this by extracting DNA from a tiny slice of mummified flesh from a leg discovered in the mine.

While most old DNA is damaged and fragmented, the researchers discovered that the DNA from the sheep mummies was exceptionally well preserved, with longer fragment lengths and less damage than one would expect from such an ancient period. According to the researchers, this is due to the mummification process, with the salt mine offering perfect conditions for the preservation of animal tissues and DNA.

The mummified sheep leg
The mummified sheep leg. Photo: Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum and Zanjan Cultural Heritage Centre, Archaeological Museum of Zanjan.

The mummified animal was genetically identical to contemporary sheep varieties from the region, which suggests that sheep ancestors had been present in Iran since at least 1,600 years ago.

“Mummified remains are quite rare so little empirical evidence was known about the survival of ancient DNA in these tissues prior to this study,” says Conor Rossi, a Ph.D. candidate in Trinity’s School of Genetics and Microbiology, and the lead author of the paper.

“The astounding integrity of the DNA was not like anything we had encountered from ancient bones and teeth before. This DNA preservation, coupled with the unique metagenomic profile, is an indication of how fundamental the environment is to tissue and DNA decay dynamics.

The team used the animal’s DNA preservation to look at genes linked to a fluffy fleece and a big tail–two key economic characteristics in sheep. Some wild sheep have a “hairy” coat, which differs greatly from the woolly coats seen in many domestic sheep today. Fat-tailed sheep are also common in Asia and Africa, where they are valued in cooking, and where they may be well-adapted to arid climates.

The researchers created a genetic imprint of the sheep and determined that the mummy lacked the gene variation linked with a woolly coat, but fiber examination using SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) revealed tiny features of the hair fibers compatible with hairy or mixed coat breeds. Intriguingly, the mummy carried genetic variants associated with fat-tailed breeds, suggesting the sheep was similar to the hairy-coated, fat-tailed sheep seen in Iran today.

Dr. Kevin G Daly, also from Trinity’s School of Genetics and Microbiology, supervised the study.

“Using a combination of genetic and microscopic approaches, our team managed to create a genetic picture of what sheep breeds in Iran 1,600 years ago may have looked like and how they may have been used,” he said.

Read the original scholarly article about this research in Biology Letters.

Related Articles

From Caves to Mounds: The Enigmatic Burial Practices of the Southern Jê in Brazil

25 February 2025

25 February 2025

A groundbreaking study published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology sheds light on the enigmatic burial practices of the Southern...

The Light of the Patara Lighthouse will Shine Again After Centuries

1 March 2025

1 March 2025

The ancient lighthouse in Patara, built by Roman Emperor Nero and destroyed by natural disasters, has reached the final stages...

In the city of Gods and Goddesses Magnesia, Zeus Temple’s entrance gate found

26 September 2021

26 September 2021

During an excavation in the ancient city of Magnesia, located in the Ortaklar district of Germencik in Turkey’s Aegean province...

Incredibly Rare Tyrian Purple Discovered at Carlisle Roman bathhouse

5 May 2024

5 May 2024

A rare archaeological object – thought to be the only one of its type in the former Roman Empire –...

World’s Oldest Place Name Signs

4 February 2021

4 February 2021

Throughout the history of the world, our interest and curiosity in ancient cultures and lives continue to increase day by...

Two mysterious stone balls were found buried in a tomb dating to 3500 BC in Orkney

2 September 2021

2 September 2021

In Orkney, archaeologists discovered two carved stone balls in a tomb dating from 3500 BC. Archaeologists are on-site at Tresness,...

New Findings from 3,000-year-old Uluburun shipwreck: Uzbekistan Nomads Supplied a Third of the Bronze Used Across Ancient Mediterranean

5 December 2022

5 December 2022

A new study of the 3,o00 years old Uluburun shipwreck revealed a complex ancient trading network during the late bronze...

The mythical hero of Troy and Rome Aeneas’s peerless mosaic discovered in Türkiye

11 May 2023

11 May 2023

A large mosaic depicting the legendary Trojan hero Aeneas, the protagonist of Virgil’s epic poem “The Aeneid” and the ancestor...

New studies confirm that there was indeed a shipyard at Lothal, the commercial center of the Harappan civilization and world’s oldest port

6 September 2024

6 September 2024

Since the discovery of Harappan sites at Lothal, located about 30 kilometers inland from the coast of the Gulf of...

An 11,000-Year-Old Settlement Redefines Early Indigenous Civilizations in North America

11 February 2025

11 February 2025

A groundbreaking archaeological discovery near Sturgeon Lake First Nation is rewriting the narrative of early Indigenous civilizations in North America,...

Africa May not be Where the First Pre-Human First Appeared

22 March 2021

22 March 2021

According to one opinion: About 2 million years ago, our first ancestors moved north from their hometown and left Africa....

Archaeologists uncovered a 3,500-year-old Egyptian Royal Retreat in the Sinai Desert

5 May 2024

5 May 2024

An Egyptian mission uncovered the ruins of a 3,500-year-old “royal fortified rest area” at the Tel Habwa archaeological site in...

“Oracle Bone Inscriptions”, the world’s oldest writing system that has not disappeared in history

5 June 2023

5 June 2023

“Jiaguwen,” or the oracle bone inscriptions, are thought to be the earliest fully-developed characters as well as the source of...

The 3,200-year-old perfume of Tapputi, the first female chemist in history, came to life again

24 July 2022

24 July 2022

One of the scent formulas written in Akkadian on clay tablets by Tapputi, known as the world’s first female perfumer...

Two statuettes of Demeter discovered in Aigai, the ‘city of goats’ of the Aeolians in western Türkiye

20 November 2023

20 November 2023

Two statuettes of Demeter, the Greek goddess of earth and fertility, were discovered in a cistern in the ancient city...