The influence of fragmentation on a combined ZooMS and zooarchaeological study at Geißenklösterle Cave in the Swabian Jura, Southwestern Germany Geißenklösterle Cave, a Palaeolithic site located in the Swabian Jura of southern Germany, has yielded multiple Middle Palaeolithic strata and some of…

Our new paper is out!
If you love caves, if you love archaeology, if you love ZooMS (and let's be honest, who doesn't?!) you'll LOVE this! #palaeoproteomics #ancientproteins #archaeology #ZooMS

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Research Fellow in Biomolecular Archaeology at UCL Searching for an academic job? Explore this Research Fellow in Biomolecular Archaeology opening on jobs.ac.uk! Click to view more details and browse other academic jobs.

Job alert! 3 year post doc in my research group at University College London working on Roman Leather via biomolecular archaeology. #ZooMS #stableisotopes

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQJ187/r...

Infographic titled "ZooMS: Unlocking the Past with Protein Fingerprinting." The top section illustrates the Peptide Mass Fingerprinting process: extracting collagen from a sample, using trypsin enzymes to digest it into peptides, and analyzing it via MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry to create a unique spectrum for species identification. The bottom left section shows how ZooMS identifies fragmented archaeological bones (like Neanderthal remains). The bottom right section depicts the non-destructive "eZooMS" technique for medieval parchment, using a PVC eraser to collect protein samples without damaging manuscripts to identify calf, sheep, or goat skins.

#ZooMS infographic and ALT generated from a spoken prompt "Can you explain what zooms is and how this is used to identify archaeological bone? and medieval parchment?" 🦴📜 #Archaeology. Slightly scary, as while it is clearly AI, my net intellectual contribution was 18 spoken words.

Very elegant! Who though tha #ZooMS would be used so creatively by so many 👍

T: 01642 342201 E: HRrecruitment@tees.ac.uk

Experience in #archaeological #proteomics?
Interested in #Roman economy / organic artefacts?
Background in data analysis for #ZooMS?

Then apply for a 3-year RA post working to join PELLIS project with the wonderful @gtaylortu.bsky.social to investigate Roman leather economy

Apply by 12/01/2026

MALDI Deamidation Score (MDS): A fast and flexible method for assessing deamidation in ZooMS data and its application to the Denisova Cave bone assemblage Estimating deamidation from ZooMS spectra has frequently been achieved using the q2e method due to its high-throughput capacity and ease of use. Despi…

🧬 MALDI Deamidation Score (MDS) — a fast, scalable method for estimating collagen deamidation directly from ZooMS data. Peptide- and sample-level deamidation from team from @cam-archaeology.bsky.social and @unituebingen.bsky.social

#ZooMS #Paleoproteomics #DenisovaCave

The Sharks Beneath the Shell Middens: How Collagen Fingerprints Are Rewriting Pacific Fishing History A new biomolecular technique is giving archaeologists an unprecedented window into the seafaring skills and ecological ingenuity of Micronesia’s ancient fishers.

Ancient fish bones from Micronesia reveal that Pacific islanders mastered open-ocean fishing 1,800 years ago—thanks to collagen “fingerprints” that expose their shark and tuna catches. #archaeology #PacificIslands #ZooMS #marinehistory www.anthropology.net/p/the-sharks...

Interested in #palaeoproteomics, #ZooMS and human evolution? We currently have a postdoctoral position and a research position open.

Postdoc: jobportal.ku.dk/videnskabeli...

Research assistant: jobportal.ku.dk/videnskabeli...

AT ICAZ AGPM (Copenhagen) @wagneranna.bsky.social will give a talk contrasting her current #ZooMS results from Germany and Romania, while @geoffreymsmith.bsky.social will present his #ZooMS results from the British Middle Pleistocene site of Victoria Cave. @icaz-news.bsky.social

In our EAA session, we will give 3 talks including an overview of our project aims and progress, and two case studies presenting our #ZooMS data from Crvena Stijena (Montenegro) and Cioarei Borosteni (Romania).

We are approaching conference season! We are currently preparing 9 presentations for 4 conferences, and look forward to sharing some of our first COEXIST project results, and more! #archsci #Palaeoproteomics #ZooMS #Zooarchaeology 🧪🦣

In a sonic boom
my heart #zooms out of my chest
I am now emptied

#haikufeels #senryu #poetry

the camera #zooms out
all seems placid and peaceful
details are fuzzy

#haikufeels #haiku #poetry #writing #writingcommunity

📢 The recording of the Integrating #ZooMS and #Zooarchaeology "Ask Us Anything" forum held on 30 June 2025 is now available on YouTube: youtu.be/loAgeUuK08g?...

📄 We also created a summary document that can be downloaded on the IZAZ website: izaz2024.sciencesconf.org

Join us today at 15:00/3:00PM (CET) for the online 'Ask Us Anything' event bringing together experts in #ZooMS and #Zooarchaeology!

3️⃣/ However, @carlipeters.bsky.social's #ZooMS work in 30°C Australian caves found 70,000-year-old collagen from extinct fauna. This challenges our models and suggests preservation mechanisms we don't fully understand. Environmental factors clearly matter more than temperature alone.

#ZooMS ... 🤔

I think I have heard of that acronym somewhere before?

Late Paleolithic whale bone tools reveal human and whale ecology in the Bay of Biscay - Nature Communications Here the authors apply ZooMS, radiocarbon, and stable isotope analyses to whale bones from the Bay of Biscay. They find that humans were utilizing the remains of at least five species of whales from 2...

Lovely publication on #ZooMS, #radiocarbon, and #stableisotopes of Late Palaeolithic whale bone tools!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Ghosts of the Surf: Whale Bone Tools and the Deep History of Human–Sea Connections How Late Paleolithic Coastal Foragers Turned Beached Giants into Tools

20,000 years ago, humans scavenged whale bones from Atlantic beaches to craft weapons. New research traces this deep connection between people and marine giants. #Paleolithic #WhaleBones #Archaeology #ZooMS #BayOfBiscay #MarineEcology @natcomms.nature.com

ADαPT Facility Welcome to ADαPT, a dedicated facility for the analysis of ancient DNA and proteins, located on the University of British Columbia’s Point Grey campus and on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded te...

Hello Bluesky! We are a specialized laboratory for ancient DNA and protein analysis, led by Prof. Camilla Speller and located at UBC in Vancouver, Canada. Follow us for lab updates, or visit our website (link in profile)
#archaeology #palaeoproteomics #ancientDNA #ZooMS #BCarchaeology

This interactive 1.5 hour webinar allows students and researchers from around the world to ask questions from our panel of #ZooMS and #Zooarchaeology experts: @geoffreymsmith.bsky.social, Camilla Speller, @abigaildesmond.bsky.social, Emmanuel Discamps, @mcodlin.bsky.social and Naihui Wang.

Diagram illustrating sex determination using amelogenin proteins in tooth enamel. The top shows X and Y chromosomally encoded protein isoforms (AMELX in blue, AMELY in red) with their amino acid sequences highlighted. The middle section displays amelogenin's structural progression from protein to nanospheres to matrix to enamel rods, alongside images of developing tooth structure with labeled components (ameloblasts, enamel, dentin, odontoblasts, pulp). The bottom shows Raman spectroscopy setup with IR laser and detector analyzing a tooth, demonstrating how incident light produces both Rayleigh scattering and Raman scattering from molecular vibrations, resulting in sex-specific spectra shown in a graph (blue and red lines) with male and female symbols. Biological sex determination is essential for analyzing human skeletal remains in archaeology, anthropology, and forensic science. This study investigates whether Raman spectroscopy of intact human dental enamel can be used as a non-destructive method for sex estimation. Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) and logistic regression identified sex-specific spectral characteristics in 88 human teeth from 47 modern individuals (26 females, 21 males). The OPLS-DA model showed excellent performance, with R2Y(cum) = 0.943 and Q2Y(cum) = 0.895. Raman shift wavenumbers at 373, 1182, and 1600 cm−1 were identified as the most reliable discriminators and included in a final logistic regression model. This model achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC-AUC) of 0.98, a sensitivity of 0.87, and a specificity of 0.94. Our results indicate that Raman spectroscopy can effectively differentiate male and female human dental enamel based on subtle differences in molecular composition—possibly linked to residual differences between AMELX and AMELY-derived proteins.

🧵 Thread: 1️⃣ Fascinating paper by Stewart et al. shows robust method for sex determination using peptides in tooth enamel.

Great potential for #archaeology with fragmentary remains where DNA is degraded. #palaeoproteomics #ZooMS #teammasspec
figshare.com/s/a861c0d74d...

Posters | National Heritage Science Forum

2025 @nhsf.bsky.social 1st annual conference 10th July 2025
Call for Posters!

Deadline 30th April 2025.

Excellent opportunity for #palaeoproteomics, #ZooMS researchers. A diverse range of heritage science. Great for PhD students and ECRs.

www.heritagescienceforum.org.uk/what-we-do/2...

Hiding in plain sight: the biomolecular identification of pinniped use in medieval manuscripts | Royal Society Open Science The survival of medieval manuscripts in their original bindings remains a rare occurrence. Taking advantage of the diversity of bindings in Cistercian libraries such as Clairvaux and its daughter abbe...

Nice new #zooms article; well done @matthewcollins.bsky.social and team

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...?

#bioarch #medieval #archsci

Ancient Biomolecules Community Survey SPAAM, HAAM, LAARD, PAASTA, and AaRC are trying to understand if and how they are helping researchers deal with the challenges in their research fields. We aim to use this information to help guide an...

A final request for those involved in the Ancient Biomolecule Communities: If you follow the activities of AaRC, HAAM, PAASTA, SPAAM and LAARD, help us improve our understanding of our communities with this short survey!

#aDNA #palaeoproteomics #biomoleculararchaeology #ZooMS #ancientDNA

ZooMS - Wikipedia

3/4 The role involves:

Managing thousands of parchment samples
Operating liquid handling robots
Performing #ZooMS analysis with MALDI-TOF MS
Generating DNA libraries from ancient samples

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZooMS

This is now tomorrow! Find out about #palaeoprotemics and #ZooMS in A03, humanities, 5pm, Tuesday March 25th. 🏺🧪

ICAZ AGPM 2025 Exploring the Past, Informing the Future: Two Decades of Interdisciplinary Approaches in Archaeozoology

🧵 Thread: 1️⃣ Excited to announce the next ICAZ Archaeozoology, Genetics, Proteomics & Morphometrics (AGPM) working group meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, Oct 14-17, 2025! #palaeoproteomics #ZooMS #archaeology

sites.google.com/palaeome.org...

7/9 The curated CollagenDB database at the heart of the pipeline includes 614 species across multiple taxonomic groups, far broader than typical ZooMS approaches. A significant resource for the community. #ZooMS

Classification of Collagens via Peptide Ambiguation, in a Paleoproteomic LC-MS/MS-Based Taxonomic Pipeline Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) extends the matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) Zooarcheology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) “mass fingerprinting” a...

🧵 Thread: 1/9 Important new paper! "Classification of Collagens via Peptide Ambiguation in a Paleoproteomic LC-MS/MS-Based Taxonomic Pipeline" by Ian Engels, @archaeoalex.bsky.social and team. Read it: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... #palaeoproteomics #ZooMS