Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download PDF , 396kb
Transcript
2010 TRANSIT SUMMER SCHOLARSHIP PROJECT SUBMISSION This form is for prospective project supervisors to submit their projects to be included in the TRANSIT Summer Scholarships Programme for 2010. NB: The funding for this scheme comes from the EPSRC’s Bridging the Gaps programme, so it is important that any projects submitted are interdisciplinary in nature. Reference No: 2010-08 Date 12th March 2010 Main Supervisor’s Name Julie Wilson Main Supervisor’s Department Chemistry/Mathematics Co-supervisors’ name(s) and Departments Matthew Collins Biology/Archaeology Project Title Identification of shellfish species for archaeological studies Project Description We have recently proposed the concept of ZooMS (Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry) as a means of rapid identification of archaeological remains using peptide mass fingerprinting of resistant extracellular matrix proteins. Our initial focus has been bone collagen, due to its persistence in the archaeological record, rate of evolution, and ease of purification. Species identification from collagen barcoding of archaeological bone has been used to identify several mammal species. A further study uses the barcoding technique to identify bones from eight fish species (cod, bass, haddock, hake, herring, sand eel, salmon, and trout) of both modern and archaeological fish bone fragments. This project will test the applicability of the method to a specific archaeological question. A new type of shell bead has recently been identified in Denmark. The raw material was originally assumed to be oyster shell but experimental work now suggests that this is not the case. However, the type of shell more likely to have been used is only available from the North Sea coast on the opposite side of the Jutland peninsula. Furthermore, similar beads have been recovered from the Bodensee area of southern Germany, more than 800km to the south and a long way from any marine environments. The question is now whether the beads from the two areas have a common source and, if so, where this might be. Determination of the shellfish species used could provide vital information. It has already been noted that different shells have different amino acid profiles and the project will involve statistical analysis and pattern matching of mass spectrometry data (already obtained) from shell samples to assess the level of discrimination between species. Required skills Some programming skills and an understanding of basic probability and statistics. Project dates Starting on Monday 12th July 2010 and finishing on Friday 17th September. Other information References Buckley, M., Collins, M., & Thomas-Oates, J. (2008). A method for isolating the collagen(I) 02 chain carboxytelopeptide for species identification in bone fragments. Analytical Biochemistry, 374:325–334. Buckley, M., Collins, M., Thomas-Oates, J., & Wilson, J. C. (2009). Species identification by analysis of bone collagen using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-offlight mass spectrometry. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 23:3843–3854. Buckley, M., Kansa, S. W., Howard, S., Campbell, S., Thomas-Oates, J., & Collins, M. (2010). Distinguishing between archaeological sheep and goat bones using a single collagen peptide. Journal of Archaeological Science, 37:13–20. When complete, please email the form to [email protected]
