Species identification of early colonial bone artefacts excavated from Pyrmont, Australia, by mass spectrometric identification of collagen peptides

Abstract

Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) is a rapidly developing and increasingly utilised peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) technique that analyses Collagen 1A1 and 1A2 marker peptides for the genus- or species-level identification of fragmentary bones in the archaeological record. Traditionally, this analysis is performed using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-ToF-MS) to identify characteristic m/z values of known marker peptides. Here we present data on the application of a modified ZooMS approach, using nanoflow liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry proteomics, to the analysis of a collection of six early colonial Australian (early to mid-19th Century CE) worked bone artefacts, believed to be mostly knife handles, excavated from a site in Pyrmont, Sydney, Australia in 2017. We were successfully able to identify characteristic marker peptides for bovine COL1A1 and COL1A2 in all six bone artefacts.