Metagenomic analyses decipher the unknown geographical shift and the storage history of possibly smuggled antique marble statues. Metagenomics of smuggled statues

All living organisms leave a specific mark on the objects they colonize: their unique fingerprint represented by DNA, as a specific microbiome. The microbiome can be used as an indicator for the geographical and climatic regions through which a piece of art traveled, the conditions under which it might have been stored or the soil in which it might have been buried. In this study, three possibly smuggled marble statues of an unknown origin, two human torsos - one female and one male - and a small young girl head, were subjected to molecular analyses in order to infer the origin and the possible relationship among the three statues. A genetic strategy comprising metagenomics analyses of the 16S rDNA of prokaryotes, 18S rDNA of Eukaryotes as well as ITS regions of fungi, was performed by using the Ion Torrent sequencing platform. The data were used to infer the storage history and the geographical shift of the samples, as well as to consider a possible relationship among them. Results suggest a possible common history of the two human torsos; their microbiomes showed similarities comprising many soil-inhabiting organisms, which may indicate storage or burial in land of agricultural or even pasture origin. For the male torso, it was possible to infer even a geographical origin, due to the presence of DNA traces of Taiwania, a tree belonging to the Cypress family, which is found only in Taiwan and in the south of the PRC. In contrast, the young girl head statue showed a more specific microbiome with an abundance of organisms of marine origin, which makes one suspect of its stay or even immersion in fresh and sea water.