In the footsteps of Ohthere: biomolecular analysis of early Viking Age hair combs from Hedeby (Haithabu)

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Abstract

Hedeby was the largest town in the Viking North. Investigations have identified imports at the site from central and northern Scandinavia revealing long-distance connections. The chronology of this trade, however, is unclear. Here, the authors use a typological-biomolecular approach to examine connections during the early Viking Age. The application of ZooMS to an assemblage of antler combs, stylistically dated to the ninth century AD, reveals nearly all were made of reindeer antler. As most craft production waste from Hedeby comprises red deer antler, it is argued that these combs were manufactured elsewhere, perhaps hundreds of kilometres further north. The results have implications for understanding of production and regional connectivity in early medieval Scandinavia.

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Palaeoproteomic evidence identifies archaic hominins associated with the Châtelperronian at the Grotte du Renne.

Frido Welker, Mateja Hajdinjak, Sahra Talamo … (2016)

In Western Europe, the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition is associated with the disappearance of Neandertals and the spread of anatomically modern humans (AMHs). Current chronological, behavioral, and biological models of this transitional period hinge on the Châtelperronian technocomplex. At the site of the Grotte du Renne, Arcy-sur-Cure, morphological Neandertal specimens are not directly dated but are contextually associated with the Châtelperronian, which contains bone points and beads. The association between Neandertals and this "transitional" assemblage has been controversial because of the lack either of a direct hominin radiocarbon date or of molecular confirmation of the Neandertal affiliation. Here we provide further evidence for a Neandertal-Châtelperronian association at the Grotte du Renne through biomolecular and chronological analysis. We identified 28 additional hominin specimens through zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS) screening of morphologically uninformative bone specimens from Châtelperronian layers at the Grotte du Renne. Next, we obtain an ancient hominin bone proteome through liquid chromatography-MS/MS analysis and error-tolerant amino acid sequence analysis. Analysis of this palaeoproteome allows us to provide phylogenetic and physiological information on these ancient hominin specimens. We distinguish Late Pleistocene clades within the genus Homo based on ancient protein evidence through the identification of an archaic-derived amino acid sequence for the collagen type X, alpha-1 (COL10α1) protein. We support this by obtaining ancient mtDNA sequences, which indicate a Neandertal ancestry for these specimens. Direct accelerator mass spectometry radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modeling confirm that the hominin specimens date to the Châtelperronian at the Grotte du Renne.

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Species identification by analysis of bone collagen using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Chris C. Wilson, Matthew Collins, Michael Buckley … (2009)

Species identification of fragmentary bone, such as in rendered meat and bone meal or from archaeological sites, is often difficult in the absence of clear morphological markers. Here we present a robust method of analysing genus-specific collagen peptides by mass spectrometry simply by using solid-phase extraction (a C18 ZipTip) for peptide purification, rather than liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). Analysis of the collagen from 32 different mammal species identified a total of 92 peptide markers that could be used for species identification, for example, in processed food and animal feed. A set of ancient (>100 ka@10 degrees C) bone samples was also analysed to show that the proposed method has applications to archaeological bone identification. Copyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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mMass 3: a cross-platform software environment for precise analysis of mass spectrometric data.

Vladimír Havlícek, Michael Volný, Petr Novak … (2010)

While tools for the automated analysis of MS and LC-MS/MS data are continuously improving, it is still often the case that at the end of an experiment, the mass spectrometrist will spend time carefully examining individual spectra. Current software support is mostly provided only by the instrument vendors, and the available software tools are often instrument-dependent. Here we present a new generation of mMass, a cross-platform environment for the precise analysis of individual mass spectra. The software covers a wide range of processing tasks such as import from various data formats, smoothing, baseline correction, peak picking, deisotoping, charge determination, and recalibration. Functions presented in the earlier versions such as in silico digestion and fragmentation were redesigned and improved. In addition to Mascot, an interface for ProFound has been implemented. A specific tool is available for isotopic pattern modeling to enable precise data validation. The largest available lipid database (from the LIPID MAPS Consortium) has been incorporated and together with the new compound search tool lipids can be rapidly identified. In addition, the user can define custom libraries of compounds and use them analogously. The new version of mMass is based on a stand-alone Python library, which provides the basic functionality for data processing and interpretation. This library can serve as a good starting point for other developers in their projects. Binary distributions of mMass, its source code, a detailed user's guide, and video tutorials are freely available from www.mmass.org .