Palaeoproteomics identifies beaver fur in Danish high-status Viking Age burials - direct evidence of fur trade

Brandt, Luise Ørsted; Taurozzi, Alberto J.; Mackie, Meaghan; Sinding, Mikkel‐Holger S.; Vieira, Filipe Garrett; Schmidt, Anne Lisbeth; Rimstad, Charlotte; Collins, Matthew J.; Mannering, Ulla

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0270040

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…In this work, the species of origin was identified for most of the samples studied, although the results highlighted the limits of available protein sequences in public databases. This is a known problem for wild species identification in archaeological materials 11 . For example, the proteomic results suggested that a species of seal was the source of the gut skin for both the more recent Parka R, and Gut skin jacket A.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite these limits, over the past few years paleoproteomics has gained more and more relevance 9 . Specifically, it has been used to identify clothing material from several contexts, such as Bronze Age sites along the Silk Road 10 , Viking Age Denmark 11 , and Pre-Columbian Peru 12 . The garment proteins identified are mainly keratins from fur, or collagen from skin 13 , and, less frequently, hollow organ sub-mucosa.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Paleoproteomic identification of the species used in fourteenth century gut-skin garments from the archaeological site of Nuulliit, Greenland

Cucina,

Schmidt,

Di Gianvincenzo

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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Until recently, the identification of the species of origin for skin and fur materials used in the production of archaeological clothing has been based on the analysis of macro- and microscopic morphological features and on the traditional knowledge of Indigenous groups. This approach, however, is not always applicable due to the deterioration of the archaeological objects. Paleoproteomics was used as an alternative approach to identify the species of origin of fifteen samples of various tissues from approximately 600-year-old garments found in Nuulliit, northern Greenland. Proteomics revealed that a limited group of marine and terrestrial mammals were used for clothing production. The results obtained from the analysis of multiple types of clothing and elements, such as sinew thread and gut skin, suggest that their applications were based on their properties. When conclusive assignment of a sample to a species via proteomics was not possible, the observation by transmitted light microscopy of feather and hair micromorphology, if not affected by diagenesis, was used to improve the identification. The proteomic characterization of animal materials used for clothing production in the Nuulliit archaeological context provides an insight into the practical knowledge and the strategies adopted by the local Indigenous community to exploit natural resources.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleoproteomic identification of the species used in fourteenth century gut-skin garments from the archaeological site of Nuulliit, Greenland

Cucina,

Schmidt,

Di Gianvincenzo

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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“…Samples were then vacuum-centrifuged to remove the ACN. Samples were then resuspended in 12 μL of 5% ACN 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) and analysed by LC-MS/MS based on previously published protocols for palaeoproteomic samples [ 50 , 51 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human and animal skin identified by palaeoproteomics in Scythian leather objects from Ukraine

Brandt,

Mackie,

Daragan

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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Leather was one of the most important materials of nomadic Scythians, used for clothing, shoes, and quivers, amongst other objects. However, our knowledge regarding the specific animal species used in Scythian leather production remains limited. In this first systematic study, we used palaeoproteomics methods to analyse the species in 45 samples of leather and two fur objects recovered from 18 burials excavated at 14 different Scythian sites in southern Ukraine. Our results demonstrate that Scythians primarily used domesticated species such as sheep, goat, cattle, and horse for the production of leather, while the furs were made of wild animals such as fox, squirrel and feline species. The surprise discovery is the presence of two human skin samples, which for the first time provide direct evidence of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus’ claim that Scythians used the skin of their dead enemies to manufacture leather trophy items, such as quiver covers. We argue that leather manufacture is not incompatible with a nomadic lifestyle and that Scythians possessed sophisticated leather production technologies that ensured stable supply of this essential material.

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“…Another important issue in phyloproteomics is the relative scarcity of proteomic datasets [18, 19]. There are currently tens of thousands of publicly available whole genome sequences, covering hundreds of species [20, 21, 22, 23, 24].…”

Section: Statement Of Needmentioning

confidence: 99%

PaleoProPhyler: a reproducible pipeline for phylogenetic inference using ancient proteins

Patramanis

Ramos‐Madrigal

Cappellini

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Ancient proteins from fossilized or semi-fossilized remains can yield phylogenetic information at broad temporal horizons, in some cases even millions of years into the past. In recent years, peptides extracted from archaic hominins and long-extinct mega-fauna have enabled unprecedented insights into their evolutionary history. In contrast to the field of ancient DNA - where several computational methods exist to process and analyze sequencing data - few tools exist for handling ancient protein sequence data. Instead, most studies rely on loosely combined custom scripts, which makes it difficult to reproduce results or share methodologies across research groups. Here, we present PaleoProPhyler: a new fully reproducible pipeline for aligning ancient peptide data and subsequently performing phylogenetic analyses. The pipeline can not only process various forms of proteomic data, but also easily harness genetic data in different formats (CRAM, BAM, VCF) and translate it, allowing the user to create reference panels for phyloproteomic analyses. We describe the various steps of the pipeline and its many functionalities, and provide some examples of how to use it. PaleoProPhyler allows researchers with little bioinformatics experience to efficiently analyze palaeoproteomic sequences, so as to derive insights from this valuable source of evolutionary data.

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Palaeoproteomics identifies beaver fur in Danish high-status Viking Age burials - direct evidence of fur trade

Cited by 10 publications

References 23 publications

Paleoproteomic identification of the species used in fourteenth century gut-skin garments from the archaeological site of Nuulliit, Greenland

Paleoproteomic identification of the species used in fourteenth century gut-skin garments from the archaeological site of Nuulliit, Greenland

Human and animal skin identified by palaeoproteomics in Scythian leather objects from Ukraine

PaleoProPhyler: a reproducible pipeline for phylogenetic inference using ancient proteins

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