New collagen peptide markers from New Guinea fauna: identifying archaeological bone in the tropics

The Pleistocene and early Holocene archaeological records of the New Guinea are sparse and poorly understood, yet are hugely relevant for understanding early human dispersals and subsistence strategies in the region. Traditional zooarchaeological and palaeoanthropological approaches are the first line of evidence, however, preservation and fragmentation of bone can be so severe that taxonomic identification is not possible. Zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS) allows for the taxonomic identification of otherwise non-unidentifiable bones. For such identifications, an adequate reference database is required to match the unknown collagen mass fingerprints to those deriving from morphologically known taxa. Here, to our knowledge, in the first study of its kind in New Guinea, 24 new collagen peptide markers are presented for local fauna that enable taxonomic identifications of commonly found regional taxa. Our new markers were applied to archaeological bone fragments from the New Guinea highlands (Kiowa), lowlands (Kria Cave) and coast (Watinglo, Lachitu), with results showing greater collagen preservation in the highlands compared with the coastal and lowland regions. The development of new collagen markers for New Guinea fauna expands the application of ZooMS within one of the world’s most biodiverse regions, opening up valuable new opportunities for research in archaeology, palaeontology, ecology and conservation.