Shotgun metagenomics provides a powerful assumption-free approach to the recovery of pathogen genomes from contemporary and historical material. We sequenced the metagenome of a calcified nodule from the skeleton of a 14th-century middle-aged male excavated from the medieval Sardinian settlement of Geridu. We obtained 6.5-fold coverage of a Brucella melitensis genome. Sequence reads from this genome showed signatures typical of ancient or aged DNA. Despite the relatively low coverage, we were able to use information from single-nucleotide polymorphisms to place the medieval pathogen genome within a clade of B. melitensis strains that included the well-studied Ether strain and two other recent Italian isolates. We confirmed this placement using information from deletions and IS 711 insertions. We conclude that metagenomics stands ready to document past and present infections, shedding light on the emergence, evolution, and spread of microbial pathogens. IMPORTANCE Infectious diseases have shaped human populations and societies throughout history. The recovery of pathogen DNA sequences from human remains provides an opportunity to identify and characterize the causes of individual and epidemic infections. By sequencing DNA extracted from medieval human remains through shotgun metagenomics, without target-specific capture or amplification, we have obtained a draft genome sequence of an ~700-year-old Brucella melitensis strain. Using a variety of bioinformatic approaches, we have shown that this historical strain is most closely related to recent strains isolated from Italy, confirming the continuity of this zoonotic infection, and even a specific lineage, in the Mediterranean region over the centuries.

This paper discusses and underlines the importance of investigations on post-medieval shipwrecks, particularly for wrecks where archival documentation is also available, in relation to gaining a better knowledge of tin-glazed tableware produced in Montelupo (Florence, Tuscany). The case of the Mortella II wrecks is interesting in this sense and also shows how an exact dating of the wreck can allow for a revision of the chronologies of the ceramic classes found on board. In the case of the majolica of Montelupo, the revision of the dating of these ceramics with great diffusion (Europe, Americas, Africa) has major repercussions on international archaeological research. This paper presents a preliminary study of the Montelupo tin-glazed tableware found in the 2021 excavation researches conducted on the Mortella II wreck. The interest in the pottery recovered is high, for several reasons: (A) The dating of the wreck to 1527, clarified thanks to the discovery of a written document related to the sinking of the two Genoese “twin” ships off Saint-Florent (Haute-Corse), which are conventionally defined as Mortella II and III. (B) The almost exclusive presence of Montelupo majolica, a ceramic class among the most important between the 16th and 17th centuries, with a very wide dispersal throughout in the Mediterranean and Europe, as well as internationally. (C) The variety of decorations of the majolica of Montelupo documented thus far in the wreck (at least nine) makes this first sample a reference site for the study of this ceramic class in the first quarter of the 16th century, especially for the precise date of closure for the context (1527).

The Mortella wrecks are the remains of two navi, Genoese seagoing merchant ships, sunk in 1527 in the Bay of Saint-Florent (Upper-Corsica, France) during the Seventh Italian War. A programme of archaeological excavations and historical research has been held on one of them, Mortella III, between 2010 and 2020. It has involved a multidisciplinary team around a European research project called ModernShip (Horizon 2020), whose objective is to shed light on Mediterranean shipbuilding during the Renaissance, a field still little known to this day. At the end of these 10 years, the aim of the present article is to conclude this research programme with the presentation of a scientific review that complements a recently published monograph on the Mortella III wreck. This study presents the latest results on the ship's architecture obtained during the excavation of the wreck in 2019, including a study of the wood of the framework. Finally, this article broadens our understanding of the nave presenting the results of a collaborative line of research on material culture with three studies in close connection with the ship architecture: artillery, anchors and ceramics.