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研究人员通过分析花粉追踪一艘有 2,200 年历史的罗马沉船的旅程
这艘船记录了它去过的所有地方，并将该记录写在花粉中。
来源:ZME科学When a Roman vessel went down off the Adriatic coast around 2,200 years ago, it left behind broken wood and cargo. But the wood also preserved a sticky waterproof coating that quietly collected traces of the world it sailed through.
For archaeologists, this kind of material has long been overlooked as too degraded and too hard to interpret.但研究人员越来越多地弄清楚如何分析这种涂层并从中获取有用的信息，例如它的行驶地点、修复频率，甚至其构造背后的知识系统。
However, this time, that assumption breaks.通过读取涂层的化学成分和捕获在其中的花粉，研究人员不仅拼凑出了这艘船如何保持漂浮，还拼凑出了它的生活方式——它可能航行到哪里、修理的频率，甚至是其建造背后的知识系统
The Coating Remembers
研究人员将化学技术与花粉分析相结合，分析了来自 Ilovik-Paržine 1 号沉船的十个防水涂层样品。 The idea is that coating made from sticky substances like heated tree resin acts like flypaper.
As the ship moves through different regions, airborne pollen sticks to it. Over time, each repair or reapplication of the coating traps a new set of environmental clues.
First, the team examined the molecular composition of the material. They found that most layers were made of pitch, a water-resistant substance produced by heating conifer resin or wood. Ancient shipbuilders commonly used pitch because it sealed wooden hulls and helped keep water out.
“结构和分子分析可以获取材料的分子特征，无论是纯的还是混合的，无论是否经过改变。这种特征由与称为生物标记的特定天然物质相关的诊断分子组成，使得确定材料的生物起源成为可能，”研究作者解释道。
Then came the pollen.
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