Distinguishing Cervids and Bovids in the Americas Using Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS): Authentication and Development of New Peptide Markers

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Cervidae family has long been central to societies throughout history, whether as venison meat or raw materials, as gifts from long-distance trades, and as trophies in ceremonial acts. However, species-level cervid exploitation and management remain underexplored due to identification difficulties from other sympatric cervids and bovids. Prior research has also focused on Eurasian species instead of the American taxa. To address such challenges, we generated new Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) peptide markers for six cervid and two bovid species. We present novel biomarkers for one cervid (Cervus canadensis) and two bovid species (Ovis canadensis and Antilocapra americana) from the Americas, and we demonstrate the presence of four new marker regions. Taking both peptide markers and geographical ranges in conjunction, all cervid species can be identified to the species level, and are distinguishable from sympatric bovid species. We also identify three distinct patterns in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) spectra, which we suggest as being representative of white-tailed deer, mislabeled mule/black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus), and hybridized deer, respectively. Pending confirmation of peptide sequence variations using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), our results reveal that ZooMS enables species-level distinctions in cervids and bovids of the Americas.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39011.0