Identification of the Species of Origin of Residual Blood on Lithic Material

Abstract

The examination of stone-tool edges for blood-antigen residue is a relatively new technique in the archaeological analysis of lithic material. To date, a number of different methods have been employed to determine the species of origin of residual blood, such as Ouchterlony double-diffusion (Ouchterlony 1968) and radioimmunoassays (RIAs) (Lowenstein 1985, 1986). These techniques have been of limited use due to problems of sensitivity, cost, and applicability to archaeological field conditions. Enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) utilizing a nitrocellulose protein-binding membrane have shown that it is possible to retain both specificity and sensitivity in a technique that can endure the rigors of archaeological field work and the vicissitudes of differential preservation (Tersak and Hyland 1988). However, due to cross-reactivity, species identification of blood residue using immunological techniques can be problematic when it is necessary to distinguish individual species within a single genus or family. Recent work has shown that careful refinement of antisera can eliminate cross-reactivity, thereby increasing specificity (Berkeley Antibody Company, personal communication 1987). This refinement is accomplished by absorbing any antibodies from the antisera that may cross-react with antigenic sites held in common by closely related species. The ramifications of the successful implementation of this technique are discussed in terms of Paleoindian artifact function as well as paleoeconomic, paleoenvironmental, and paleodietary reconstruction using a case study from the Shoop site in central Pennsylvania.

Species identification and decay assessment of Late Pleistocene fragmentary vertebrate remains from Pin Hole Cave (Creswell Crags, UK) using collagen fingerprinting

“…biomolecule) survival is in the use of proteins. Immunoassay techniques were initially utilized (Fletcher et al 1984;Hyland et al 1990;Cattaneo et al 1992), but within the past decade an increasing number of applications of soft-ionization mass spectrometry has been developed.…”

Blood from Stones? Some Methodological and Interpretive Problems in Blood Residue Analysis

“…A team at the University of Pittsburgh (Hyland, et al, 1990) reports their identification of blood, using the ELISA method, on an 11,000 year-old Paleo-Indian scraper from the Shoop site in Pennsylvania. In this case, the animal was identified as cervid, but it could not be further specified as caribou or deer.…”

Reliable identification of human albumin in ancient bone using ELISA and monoclonal antibodies

“…We had previously evaluated the anti-human-albumin to ensure that it was not recognising an epitope common to other species (Fletcher et al, 1984;Hyland et al, 1990) or to other serum proteins; we had similarly checked that human material did not cross-react with monoclonal antibovine-albumin. We are thus confident that a positive result in this study reliably indicated the specimen's human origin.…”

“…The first workers were generally interested in the extraction of protein from ancient human bone; they succeeded in identifying collagen and albumin in fossil bone using radio-immuno assay (RIA) (Lowenstein, 1981) and in detecting haemoglobin in Roman, Iron Age, and Copper Age human bone by an immunoblotting technique (Ascenzi et al, 1985). Enzymelinked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) have recently been used to detect cervid blood on lithic artifacts (Hyland et al, 1990), human haemoglobin in bone (Smith and Wilson, 1990) and human albumin in Australian Palaeolithic rock-art (Loy et al, 1990). However, none of these studies seems to have met all the requirements necessary for this type of work, namely sensitivity, specificity, replicability, safety, and consistent use of adequate control samples.…”