Better understanding domestication

The initial aim of early ZooMS research was to investigate methods of biochemically separating sheep (Ovis) and goat (Capra).

When the archaeological remains are fragmentary, these are two of the most difficult species to separate using morphological criteria – to the extent that they are usually grouped together (e.g., ‘Ovicaprids’), despite requiring distinct husbanding practices. Yet, because the sites of interest to the study of early agriculture are from regions of warm climate (i.e., the Near East), ancient DNA survival is usually very poor.

The current aims of this research are typically to use the surviving collagen to discriminate between sheep and goat (as well as other taxa) to investigate past animal husbandry.

Microfaunal remains can be used to monitor the changes in faunal abundance of microfauna in response to climate change.

Due to recent developments in high-throughput productivity of the species identification methods mentioned above, we acquire thousands of mass spectra covering hundreds of different species including all major vertebrate classes (mammals, reptiles (including birds), amphibians and fish).

Although we prefer to fully understand the sequences that our species biomarker peptides refer to, we are also investigating various bioinformatics methods that can quickly classify the relatedness of a sample from a previously unknown taxa to those in our database.

ZooMS can also be used for screening for collagen preservation in the archaeological and palaeontological records, particularly of interest in the screening for radiocarbon dating.