Archaeology meets microbiology

developed for hospitals to identify sub-groups of the causal bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis and to check antibiotic sensitivity. DNA is a remarkably persistent molecule and a collaboration of medical scientists and archaeologists have now reported their analyses of DNA from bones in the graveyard of the Abbey of St Mary Graces. This central London cemetery was founded in 1350 and used until the dissolution of the monasteries by King Henry VIII in 1538. The researchers found M. tuberculosis DNA in bones bearing TB scars and not in bones lacking these signs, indicating that the DNA had not become scattered during the centuries. A quick check for evidence of resistance to modern hospital antibiotics showed