Mummified remains have long attracted interest as a potential source of ancient DNA. However, mummification is a rare process that requires an anhydrous environment to rapidly dehydrate and preserve tissue before complete decomposition occurs. We present the whole-genome sequences (3.94 X) of an approximately 1600-year-old naturally mummified sheep recovered from Chehrābād, a salt mine in northwestern Iran. Comparative analyses of published ancient sequences revealed the remarkable DNA integrity of this mummy. Hallmarks of postmortem damage, fragmentation and hydrolytic deamination are substantially reduced, likely owing to the high salinity of this taphonomic environment. Metagenomic analyses reflect the profound influence of high-salt content on decomposition; its microbial profile is predominated by halophilic archaea and bacteria, possibly contributing to the remarkable preservation of the sample. Applying population genomic analyses, we find clustering of this sheep with Southwest Asian modern breeds, suggesting ancestry continuity. Genotyping of a locus influencing the woolly phenotype showed the presence of an ancestral ‘hairy’ allele, consistent with hair fibre imaging. This, along with derived alleles associated with the fat-tail phenotype, provides genetic evidence that Sasanian-period Iranians maintained specialized sheep flocks for different uses, with the ‘hairy’, ‘fat-tailed’-genotyped sheep likely kept by the rural community of Chehrābād's miners.

Research into the past cultural dimensions of plants is often restricted to plants with important uses, cultivated for millennia and ever sought after, and of fundamental meaning to human subsistence and economy. This is defi nitely true for the main cultivated crops of the Old World, and for plants regarded essential for other (e.g. medical) reasons. Bladdernut is defi nitely not one of these 'great' useful plants. Still, this shrub has had a curious past which seemed to us worth investigating, for the beliefs and meanings that still cling to it. As we will see, new beliefs are still developing.Largely building upon the previous detailed work by the fi rst author, 1 the current study pursues the goal of drawing as complete a picture as possible of the cultural relevance of bladdernut in past societies. This has been done by critically evaluating the extant literature on material evidence, written historical sources, and ethnographic studies on Staphylea pinnata across Europe, and trying to suggest new interpretations for this plant. Originally given as a conference paper by the fi rst author listed, the following article has been considerably reworked and now includes substantially more research than previously. keywords bladdernut, archaeobotany, historical botany, ethnobotany, ritual plant use, medicinal plants, food plants Downloaded by [84.251.91.165] at 15

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