Mineral-bound noncollagenous proteins in archaeological human skeletons

Archaeometric approaches to archaelogical human bone also include the extraction, identification and molecular analysis of surviving bone proteins. Due to its abundance as a matrix protein, most studies focus on collagen (e.g. radiocarbon dating). Also, a variety of serum proteins are detectable in excavated skeletons. Very limited knowledge still exists on mineral-bound noncollagenous bone proteins from ancient bones because, in the mature tissue, they occur in trace amounts only. Moreover, post-mortem decomposition is likely to change characteristic features of the molecules. Due to their suggested role as growth and developmental factors, identification and quantification of such proteins should be valuable for both physical anthropology and epidemiology. We present a valid method for the detection of small amounts of surviving mineral-bound noncollagenous proteins in excavated human bones up to 7500 years of age.