Denisova Cave, a Pleistocene site in the Altai Mountains of Russian Siberia, has yielded significant fossil and lithic evidence for the Pleistocene in Northern Asia. Abundant animal and human bones have been discovered at the site, however, these tend to be highly fragmented, necessitating new approaches to identifying important hominin and faunal fossils. Here we report the results for 8253 bone fragments using ZooMS. Through the integration of this new ZooMS-based data with the previously published macroscopically-identified fauna we aim to create a holistic picture of the zooarchaeological record of the site. We identify trends associated with climate variability throughout the Middle and Upper Pleistocene as well as patterns explaining the process of bone fragmentation. Where morphological analysis of bones from the site have identified a high proportion of carnivore bones (30.2%), we find that these account for only 7.6% of the ZooMS assemblage, with large mammals between 3 and 5 more abundant overall. Our analysis suggests a cyclical pattern in fragmentation of bones which sees initial fragmentation by hominins using percussive tools and secondary carnivore action, such as gnawing and digestion, likely furthering the initial human-induced fragmentation.

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This collection details the different established protocols for Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) for use on archaeological bone. ZooMS allows for taxonomic identification by the peptide mass fingerprinting of collagen type I. These protocols can be used individually or combined depending on the preservation, sample size, and ability to do destructive analysis. All the protocols are optimized for bone as the starting material.In the acid soluble protocol bone is pretreated with hydrocholoric acid. The acid is removed and filtered leaving the collagen which is then digested with trypsin. The peptides are purified using C18 ZipTips. This protocol can be used in conjuntion with the acid insoluble protocol which analyzes the bone shaddow left after the acid is removed.This protocol is suitable for a wide range of preservation conditions from very good to poor preservation. It works in cases where the bone is too fragile or the preservation is too poor for a collagen shaddow to remain after demineralization. The ideal starting volume is 10-20mg of bone as a powerder or a bone chip, but in cases of very poor preservation, a larger starting volume may be required.If you are using this protocol, please cite the DOI for the protocol and the following two papers on which it is based:

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