Investigation of ancient proteins in archaeological material

Although several studies have positively identified dairy proteins from ancient dental calculus, other dietary protein identifications are exceedingly rare. The manuscripts included in this thesis include the identification of 20 different dietary proteins that could be taxonomically identified to the species level from 10 different species. One of our primary goals for this thesis was to evaluate any potential biases in our dietary protein recovery, and to gain a deeper understanding of the factors that influence dietary protein preservation within dental calculus. Although our sample sizes are small, we did find evidence of biases in the types of proteins we have recovered thus far. All proteins identified were potential allergens with IgE binding sites, low monomer molecular weight, resistance to changes in pH and temperature, and resistance to degradation through enzymatic proteolysis. The identified proteins primarily had functions in host defense or storage.