Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS)

Abstract

Biomolecular methods of taxonomic identification have been increasing in number more recently, but these are also affected to a greater or lesser extent by preservation depending on which biomolecule is being used, the most informative of these being with DNA. This chapter introduces what proteins are, how they are analyzed, and describes in general terms the types of information that can be obtained from proteomics, with a focus on archaeological bone. It presents an overview of the contributions that ‘palaeoproteomic’ techniques are making in archaeological investigations, and what they will likely continue to make in the near future. Although the use of Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry has remained relatively limited during its infancy period, as descriptions of species peptide markers for several of the major taxonomic groups, particularly of fish, are still being published, several main research areas have benefitted from analytical developments.