Species-specific albumin in fossil bones from Orce, Granada, Spain

Proteins in Art, Archaeology, and Paleontology: From Detection to Identification

“…Another example showed that albumin from skull fragments dating back over 1.6 million years was found immunologically closer to human albumin than equid or bovid albumins. 381,382 This result supports the theory that Hominidae were living in Andalusia at this period. Human fossils dated up to two million years, such as fossils from Australopithecus robustus, were also studied using their collagen and albumin contents (EDTA and acetic acid extraction).…”

“…No evidence of cross-reactivity with animal material was shown, but the detection seemed to depend, beyond the sample amount, on the chronological age. Monoclonal antialbumin was also successfully used to study a 1.6 million year old fossil from Venta Micena in Orce (complementarily to radioimmunoassay). , Immunological detection of another blood protein, immunoglobulin G, was investigated using monoclonal antibodies, but this protein was detected only once among 31 samples (from the English Civil War, medieval, Early Saxon, Roman, Iron Age, and Bronze Age periods), analyzed in parallel with albumin (monoclonal antibody) that was detected in 21 of these samples. This study confirmed that albumin is a better target molecule for protein detection in skeletal remains .…”

The oldest handaxes in Europe: fact or artefact?

“…In VM, three fragmentary bone specimens (skull cap VM-0, humeral diaphysis VM-1960 and distal humerus VM-3691) have been attributed to the genus Homo (Gibert et al, , 1998(Gibert et al, , 1999aGibert and Palmqvist, 1995;Lowenstein et al, 1999). However, the human affinities of these fossils have been seriously questioned and none of them is now accepted as unequivocally human (Palmqvist, 1997;Moyà-Solà and Köhler, 1997;Martínez-Navarro, 2002;Palmqvist et al, 2005).…”

Twentieth-Century Paleoproteomics: Lessons from Venta Micena Fossils

“…Albumin not bound to the mineral phase can be detected in fresh, surgically removed human bone that contains albumin from retained blood, which is also easily eluted with PBS. Albumin not bound to the mineral phase has been detected in human bones that were buried for as long as 10 years ( Figure 3 ) [ 45 ]. Fossils VM-0 and VM-1960 did not contain unbound albumin, and this protein was detected only when the mineral phase was dissolved with EDTA.…”