ABOVE: ROGERS FUND, 1930, CHARLES K WILKINSON
As soon as he learned about the existence of ancient wheat specimens at University College London’s Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology from a 2018 BBC documentary, Richard Mott of the UCL Genetics Institute wanted to study them. The samples likely contained bits of ancient wheat DNA, he reasoned, which could yield valuable insights into the history of cultivation of this all-important crop species.
Archaeobotanists at UCL helped Mott and a team of collaborators choose a handful of well-preserved husks from the museum’s collection of ancient emmer wheat, a variety native to the Near East and one of the first crops to be domesticated in the region, from which the researchers selected two husks for DNA extraction. After carefully removing the husks from the box, photographing them, and wrapping them in foil, the scientists transported the centuries-old plant material to a freshly bleached cleanroom ...
