Dataset Information

Gendering Prehistory Through Science. Women and Early Social Complexity in Copper Age Iberia.

ABSTRACT: Given the absence of written records, the main source of information available to analyze gender inequalities in early complex societies is the human body itself. And yet, for decades, archaeologists have struggled with the identification of the sex of poorly preserved human remains. Here we present an exceptional case study that shows how ground-breaking new scientific methods may address this problem. Through the analysis of sexually dimorphic amelogenin peptides in tooth enamel by nanoflow liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, we establish that the most socially prominent person of the Iberian Copper Age (c. 3200-2300 cal BC) was not male, as previously thought, but female. The meticulous anthropological, contextual and comparative analysis of this woman, discovered in 2008 at Valencina, Spain, reveals that she was a leading social figure at a time where no male attained a remotely comparable social position. Only other women, buried a short time after in the Montelirio tholos, part of the same burial area, appear to have enjoyed a similarly high social position. Our results invite to reconsider established interpretations about the political role of women at the onset of early social complexity, while at the same time questions traditionally-held views of the past and naïve assumptions concerning the determination of sex and gender through grave goods alone. Furthermore, this study anticipates the profound changes that newly-developed scientific methods may bring to prehistoric archaeology and the study of human social evolution.

INSTRUMENT(S): Q Exactive

ORGANISM(S): Homo Sapiens (human)

TISSUE(S): Tooth Enamel

SUBMITTER: Christopher Gerner

LAB HEAD: Christopher Gerner

PROVIDER: PXD038664 | Pride | 2023-07-06

REPOSITORIES: Pride

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Project description:Tooth enamel forms in an ephemeral protein matrix where changes in protein abundance, composition and post-translational modifications are critical to achieve healthy enamel properties. Amelogenin (AMELX) with its splice variants is the most abundant enamel matrix protein, with only one known phosphorylation site at serine 16 shown in vitro to be critical for regulating mineralization. The phosphorylated form of AMELX stabilizes amorphous calcium phosphate, while crystalline hydroxyapatite forms in the presence of the unphosphorylated protein. While it is necessary to our understanding of how AMELX regulates mineral transitions over space and time, it is unknown whether and when un-phosphorylated amleogenin occurs during enamel mineralization. This study aims to reveal the spatiotemporal distribution of the most abundant AMLEX splice variants including the full length P173, the shorter leucine-rich amelogenin protein (LRAP), and the exon 4-containing P190 in forming enamel, all within the context of the changing enamel matrix proteome during mineralization. We microsampled permanent pig molars, capturing known stages of enamel formation from both crown surface and inner enamel. Nano-LC-MS/MS proteomic analyses after tryptic digestion rendered more than 500 unique protein identifications in enamel, dentin, and bone. We mapped collagens, keratins, and proteolytic enzymes (CTSL, MMP2, MMP10) and determined distributions of P173, LRAP and P190, the enamel proteins enamelin (ENAM) and ameloblastin (AMBN), and matrix-metalloprotease-20 (MMP20) and kallikrein-4 (KLK4). All enamel proteins and KLK4 were near-exclusive to enamel and in excellent agreement with published expression levels. Phosphorylated P173 and LRAP decreased in abundance from recently deposited matrix towards older enamel, mirrored by increasing abundances of testicular acid phosphatase (ACPT). Our results showed that hierarchical clustering analysis of secretory enamel links closely matching distributions of unphosphorylated P173 and LRAP with ACPT and nontraditional amelogenesis proteins, many associated with enamel defects. We report higher protein diversity than previously published and Gene Ontology (GO)-defined protein functions related to the regulation of mineral formation in secretory enamel (e.g. casein α-S1, CSN1S1), immune response in erupted enamel (e.g. peptidoglycan recognition protein, PGRP), and phosphorylation. This study presents a novel approach to characterize and study functional relationships through spatiotemporal mapping of the ephemeral extracellular matrix proteome.

Dataset Information

Gendering Prehistory Through Science. Women and Early Social Complexity in Copper Age Iberia.

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