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 21 utilised peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) technique that analyses Collagen 1A1 and 1A2 22 marker peptides for the genus- or species-level identification of fragmentary bones in the 23 archaeological record. Traditionally, this analysis is performed using matrix-assisted laser 24 desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-ToF-MS) to identify 25 characteristic m/z values of known marker peptides. Here we present data on the application 26 of a modified ZooMS approach, using nanoflow liquid chromatography - tandem mass 27 spectrometry proteomics, to the analysis of a collection of six early colonial Australian (early 28 to mid-19th Century CE) worked bone artefacts, believed to be mostly knife handles, excavated 29 from a site in Pyrmont, Sydney, Australia in 2017.