Mass Spectrometric approaches to identification of ancient residues.
Over the last two years our interdisciplinary team at UNT and The University of South Florida has developed methods for the study of protein residues from archaeological pottery through extensive cooking, extraction, and characterization experiments. We have successfully optimized and applied extraction/characterization approaches to pure proteins, mixtures of pure proteins, and foodstuffs cooked in experimental pottery.
We are now moving forward into actualistic taphonomic (pottery burial) experiments and analysis of protein residues from artifacts from multiple environmental settings and diverse archaeological contexts. In addition, we will analyze the ceramic composition of pottery to determine if variability in
composition influences organic residue preservation. The targeted goal of this research is to
comprehensively study those factors that drive protein residue preservation through application
of our approach to experimental and archaeological pottery retrieved from a wide variety of
contexts.
PI is Dr. Steve Wolverton (UNT) and Co-PIs Dr. Stanley Stevens (Univ. South Florida) and Dr. Barney Venables (UNT).
Funding is from the National Science Foundation.
We are now moving forward into actualistic taphonomic (pottery burial) experiments and analysis of protein residues from artifacts from multiple environmental settings and diverse archaeological contexts. In addition, we will analyze the ceramic composition of pottery to determine if variability in
composition influences organic residue preservation. The targeted goal of this research is to
comprehensively study those factors that drive protein residue preservation through application
of our approach to experimental and archaeological pottery retrieved from a wide variety of
contexts.
PI is Dr. Steve Wolverton (UNT) and Co-PIs Dr. Stanley Stevens (Univ. South Florida) and Dr. Barney Venables (UNT).
Funding is from the National Science Foundation.