Proteomics of Symbolic Objects

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Proteomic analysis applied to ancient materials presents a novel method for investigations into past human-animal-plant interactions and can shed light on both the taxonomy and tissues of recovered proteins from archaeological residues. We analysed 85 samples from residues from symbolic objects from South Africa, Kenya, and Malawi, highlighting differences in biomolecule preservation across varied environments while recovering human, animal, and plant proteins. Here we share our results from historic and archaeological residues (OES beads, pigment stained marine shells) in order to determine the types of organic materials used during the everyday lives of past people, including those from plants and animals, as well as those from the humans wearing or otherwise in contact with the artefacts. Our results provide information about megafaunal interactions, the introduction of domesticated ruminant herds, and everyday human activities that would be challenging, if not impossible, to discover with traditional archeological methods.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53596