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Published online 26 January 2004 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news040119-16
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Pollen traces shipwrecks' roots
Plants give boats a biological birth certificate.
How do you work out where an ancient ship was originally built? Try looking at the pollen caught in the joints of the wreck, suggests a French ecologist.
Serge Muller, of the University of Montpellier II in France, says the range of pollen found on a shipwreck gives a snapshot of the plant species local to the boat's birthplace.
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