One of the key innovations in our project has been the development and application of novel proteomics methodological workflows. This has yielded significant findings, including a deeper understanding of the preservation, integrity, and recovery of the amelogenin protein in enamel samples, and made notable progress in the field of biological sex estimation in modern and archaeological samples from a diverse range of animal species.
Overview of the work performed per Work Package:
WP1: Was focused on intensive hands-on training by Prof Parker and supervision by Prof. Eerkens at UC Davis, focusing on proteomic analytical and interpretation skills. During the initial months, a modern amelogenin reference database for European male and female mammal species was built, processing modern and archaeological samples ranging from 400.000 to 35.000 BP. As amino acid variations are unique for each species, and there are no published amelogenin-specific databases, a great deal of time was devoted to recovering and matching amelogenin genes from AMELX and AMELY isoforms. WP1 was completed with supervision and analysis monitoring for the remaining sampling sets and sites, followed by an interpretation phase and preparation of paper manuscripts. In total, the PI has processed and analysed 138 samples from 13 different animal species (Bison priscus, Bison bonasus, Bos taurus, Bos primigenius, Cervus elaphus, Capra sp., Capreolus capreolus, Equus ferus, Equus caballus, Ovis aries, Ursus arctos, Canis lupus familiaris, and Canis lupus) from modern referential collections and 4 Middle and Upper Palaeolithic archaeological sites (TD10 Gran Dolina, Spain; El Salt, Spain; Les Cottés, France and Peçtera Muierii, Romania).
WP2: Upon return to AMBI Lab, Dr. Égüez worked under Dr Mallol supervision on training for analysing palaeoenvironmental biomarkers. Sediment lipid extraction was performed successfully, and deuterium and carbon compound-specific isotope analysis are underway. Additionally, we included the analysis of tooth dentine for oxygen and carbon stable isotopes at UC Davis under supervision of Prof. Eerkens, complementing ecological and paleoenvironmental data while waiting for the sediments isotopes analysis.
WP3: This period was focused on developing computational skills in R programming, coupling it with critical notions of empirical modelling within a human evolutionary framework. Multivariate statistics were used to analyse collective properties and tackle hypotheses testing over large sets of multi-taxa and multi-site sex-based patterns. TD10 Gran Dolina, El Salt, Les Cottés, and Peçtera Muierii sites' proteomic pilot study successfully compared proteomic data on different species (Bison priscus, Bos primigenius, Equus ferus, and Canis lupus).
Main results achieved so far are:
3 peer-review articles in preparation
3 oral communications in international conferences:
1) Faunal sex estimation through amelogenin peptides analysis from the TD10.2 bison bone bed at Gran Dolina (Atapuerca, Spain). Natalia Égüez et al., XX UISPP World Congress (UISPP) (5-9 September 2023, Romania)
2) Deciphering Neanderthal Subsistence Approaches in El Salt's Stratigraphic Unit Xa (Alacant, Spain): Amelogenin Analysis of Equine Dental Samples. Natalia Égüez et al., 4th Virtual Conference for Women Archaeologists and Paleontologists (6-8 March 2024, online)
3) Amelogenin analysis of faunal dental samples in El Salt’s stratigraphic unit xa (alacant, spain): deciphering neanderthal subsistence approaches. Natalia Égüez et al.,30th EAA Annual Meeting (28-31 August 2024, Italy)
1 poster communication in national conference
5 talks as invited speaker in international venues
2 talks as invited speaker in national venues
1 dissemination activity funded by the European Commission MacaroNight 2023
