MALDI-TOF MS spectra of archaeological whale bone specimens from Atlantic Europe

• Main Authors: van den Hurk, Youri, Sikström, Fanny, Amkreutz, Luc, Bleasdale, Madeleine, Borvon, Aurélia, Ephrem, Brice, Fernández-Rodríguez, Carlos, Gibbs, Hannah, Johnsson, Leif, Lehouck, Alexander, Martínez Cedeira, Jose, Meng, Stefan, Monge Soares, Rui, Moreno, Marta, Nabais, Mariana, Nores, Carlos, Pis Millán, José Antonio, Riddler, Ian, Schmölcke, Ulrich, Segschneider, Martin, Speller, Camilla, Vretemark, Maria, Wickler, Stephen, Collins, Matthew, Nadeau, Marie-Josée, Barrett, James
• Language: unknown
• Published: Borealis 2023
• Subjects: Other; zooarchaeology; collagen fingerprinting (ZooMS); Whales; cetacean; Norway; Eubalaena glacialis; North Atlantic; North Atlantic right whale
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5683/SP3/PQIIH5

Abstract Whale bones are regularly found during archaeological excavations. Identification of these specimens to taxonomic levels is problematic due to their fragmented state. This lack of taxonomic resolution limits understanding of the past spatiotemporal distributions of whale populations and reconstructions of early whaling activities. To overcome this challenge, we performed Zooarchaeology by Mass-Spectrometry on an unprecedented selection of 719 archaeological and palaeontological specimens of probable whale bone from Atlantic European contexts, from the Middle to Late Neolithic (c.3500–2500 BCE) to the eighteenth century CE. The results show high numbers of Balaenidae (most likely North Atlantic right whale ( Eubalaena glacialis )) and grey whale ( Eschrichtius robustus ) specimens, two species no longer present in the eastern North Atlantic. Many of these specimens derive from contexts associated with the known medieval whaling cultures of the Basques, northern Spaniards, Normans, Flemish, Frisians, Anglo-Saxons, and Scandinavians. This association raises the likelihood that pre-industrial whaling impacted these taxa, contributing to their extinction and extirpation respectively. Much lower numbers of other large whale taxa were identified, suggesting that it was once abundant and accessible whales that suffered the greatest long-term impact. The pattern of natural abundance leading to over-exploitation, well-documented for other taxa, is thus applicable to early whaling. Methods Whale bone samples were taken using a ©Dremel rotary tool removing a small piece of bone weighing up to c.500 mg. For 474 specimens, collagen was extracted using a modified Longin (1971) method as detailed in Seiler et al. (2019), with the addition of a lipid extraction step and the use of a higher acid concentration, at the National Laboratory for Age Determination, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway. Initially, the samples were crushed into small pieces and cleaned in an ultrasonic bath with 18.2 MΩ-cm ...