29 research outputs found
Tales from Ginderup Mound in Thisted County, Denmark: Further Investigations of Female Mobility in the Nordic Bronze Age
The preservation of organic and human remains in Early Nordic Bronze Age mounds (1700 BCE -1100 BCE) permits new provenance work on this important period. Studies have shown that different mobility/non-mobility patterns were exercised by elite women during this time. To extend the database, we conducted strontium isotope analyses of the enamel from the second and third molars from the elite female grave from Ginderup in Thisted County, Denmark. Among other items, this grave included the textile remains of a possible corded skirt or fringed blanket. We complemented analyses of this woman’s enamel with strontium isotope analyses of the first molar from Grave B as well as osteological analysis of the individuals from Early Nordic Bronze Age Graves A, B and C.
Our results revealed that the strontium isotope ratios obtained from the woman wearing a possible corded skirt yielded one local ratio (M2) and one non-local ratio (M3). The results from Grave B yielded a ratio which falls within the local baseline of present-day Denmark. Our results suggest that the Ginderup Woman was probably of local origin, but that she also was repeatedly mobile during her life. These data are further evidence for the Nordic Bronze Age’s complex socio-dynamics. 
SPIN enables high throughput species identification of archaeological bone by proteomics
Species determination based on genetic evidence is an indispensable tool in archaeology,
forensics, ecology, and food authentication. Most available analytical approaches involve
compromises with regard to the number of detectable species, high cost due to low
throughput, or a labor-intensive manual process. Here, we introduce “Species by Proteome
INvestigation” (SPIN), a shotgun proteomics workflow for analyzing archaeological bone
capable of querying over 150 mammalian species by liquid chromatography-tandem mass
spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Rapid peptide chromatography and data-independent acquisition
(DIA) with throughput of 200 samples per day reduce expensive MS time, whereas
streamlined sample preparation and automated data interpretation save labor costs. We
confirm the successful classification of known reference bones, including domestic species
and great apes, beyond the taxonomic resolution of the conventional peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF)-based Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) method. In a blinded
study of degraded Iron-Age material from Scandinavia, SPIN produces reproducible results
between replicates, which are consistent with morphological analysis. Finally, we demonstrate the high throughput capabilities of the method in a high-degradation context by
analyzing more than two hundred Middle and Upper Palaeolithic bones from Southern European sites with late Neanderthal occupation. While this initial study is focused on modern
and archaeological mammalian bone, SPIN will be open and expandable to other biological
tissues and taxa.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio