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Peptide mass fingerprinting of preserved collagen in archaeological fish bones for the identification of flatfish in European waters
Dierickx, Katrien Presslee, Samantha Hagan, Richard Oueslati, Tarek Harland, Jennifer Hendy, Jessica Orton, David Alexander, Michelle Harvey, Virginia L.
Dierickx, Katrien
Presslee, Samantha
Hagan, Richard
Oueslati, Tarek
Harland, Jennifer
Hendy, Jessica
Orton, David
Alexander, Michelle
Harvey, Virginia L.
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2022-07-27
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Abstract
Bones of Pleuronectiformes (flatfish) are often not identified to species due to the lack of diagnostic features on bones that allow adequate distinction between taxa. This hinders in-depth understanding of archaeological fish assemblages and particularly flatfish fisheries throughout history. This is especially true for the North Sea region, where several commercially significant species have been exploited for centuries, yet their archaeological remains continue to be understudied. In this research, 8 peptide biomarkers for 18 different species of Pleuronectiformes from European waters are described using MALDI-TOF MS and LC-MS/MS data obtained from modern reference specimens. Bone samples (n=202) from three archaeological sites in the UK and France dating to the medieval period (c. 7th–16th century CE) were analysed using ZooMS. Of the 201 that produced good quality spectra, 196 were identified as flatfish species, revealing a switch in targeted species through time and indicating that ZooMS offers a more reliable and informative approach for species identification than osteological methods alone. We recommend this approach for future studies of archaeological flatfish remains as the precise species uncovered from a site can tell much about the origin of the fish, where people fished and whether they traded between regions.
Citation
Dierickx, K., Presslee, S., Hagan, R., Oueslati, T., Harland, J., Hendy, J., Orton, D., Alexander, M., Harvey, V. L. (2022). Peptide mass fingerprinting of preserved collagen in archaeological fish bones for the identification of flatfish in European waters. Royal Society Open Science, 9, 220149. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220149
Publisher
The Royal Society
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Royal Society Open Science
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DOI
10.1098/rsos.220149
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Article
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2054-5703