How Burned Is Too Burned? ZooMS-Based Identifications of Thermally Altered Bone

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Identifying skeletal remains to species can be a challenge in archaeological and forensics contexts. The high rates of fragmentation and often poor preservation of bones have rendered skeletal fragments specimens unidentifiable beyond broad categories, such as “large mammal.” Identification of skeletal specimens through Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS), or peptide mass fingerprinting of bone collagen, offers an avenue for identification of morphologically ambiguous or unidentifiable bone fragments that is less expensive and requires less bone than aDNA analysis. However, burned bones, which are common in the archaeological record, are particularly challenging, as high temperatures denature collagen. Yet, recent preliminary research shows that some burned specimens still yield enough collagen for coarse identifications. This paper explores the degree of burning that can still reliably yield collagen for species identification. We present a system of visual criteria (e.g., bone color and texture) that will allow zooarchaeologists and other researchers, including forensics practitioners, to make informed decisions on whether ZooMS will be a good option for species identification.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37248.0