Species identification of ivory and bone museum objects using minimally invasive proteomics

Abstract

Ivory is a highly prized material in many cultures since it can be carved into intricate designs and have a highly polished surface. Due to its popularity, the animals from which ivory can be sourced are under threat of extinction. Identification of ivory species is not only important for CITES compliance, it can also provide information about the context in which a work was created. Here, we have developed a minimally invasive workflow to remove minimal amounts of material from precious objects and, using high-resolution mass spectrometry–based proteomics, identified the taxonomy of ivory and bone objects from The Metropolitan Museum of Art collection dating from as early as 4000 B.C. We built a proteomic database of underrepresented species based on exemplars from the American Museum of Natural History, and proposed alternative data analysis workflows for samples containing inconsistently preserved organic material. This application demonstrates extensive ivory species identification using proteomics to unlock sequence uncertainties, e.g., Leu/Ile discrimination.

Combining traceological analysis and ZooMS on Early Neolithic bone artefacts from the cave of Coro Trasito, NE Iberian Peninsula: Cervidae used equally to Caprinae

“…Taxonomic identifications could possibly have been required for some of the less burned specimens if sampled via bone chips [ 48 ] or utilising a second polishing film stick on the already sampled area [ 78 ] for ZooMS analysis increasing the taxonomic identification success rate. Concerning the burned artefacts, heat treatment of bone is known to break down collagen [ 79 , 80 ], explaining the low taxonomic identification success rate and poor recovery of peptide markers of the heat-treated specimens.…”

Low-Invasive Sampling Method with Tape-Disc Sampling for the Taxonomic Identification of Archeological and Paleontological Bones by Proteomics

“…This method was originally set up for the analysis of parchment and on other archeological materials such as bone and ivory. − The triboelectric effect has been applied to bones contained in plastic storage bags allowing identifying them . In 2019, Kirby et al used polishing films to sample photographs. − Then Evans et al. applied this technique for the taxonomic identification of bone artifacts, with successful results on 5000 year old remains .…”