Paleoproteomic profiling of organic residues on prehistoric pottery from Malta.

Mass spectrometry-based approaches have been successfully applied for identifying ancient proteins in bones and other tissues. On the contrary, there are relatively few examples of the successful recovery and identification of archeological protein residues from ceramic artifacts; this is because ceramics contain much lower levels of proteins which are extensively degraded by diagenetic effects. In this paper, we report the results of the characterization of proteins extracted from pottery of the Maltese site of Bahrija, the guide-site for the Bahrija period (half of 9th-second half of eighth century BCE), recently identified as the final part of the Borg in-Nadur culture. Proteomic data here reported confirm that one of the major issue of these kind of studies is represented by contamination of animal and human agents that may complicate endogenous protein identification and authentication. The samples tested included a small group of ceramic forms, namely three tableware and six coarse ware thought to have been used in food preparation and/or storage. In this context, the limited availability of paleobotanical and archeozoological analyses may be compensated by the outcomes of the first proteomics profiling which, even if obtained on a limited selection of vessels, revealed the centrality of wheat in the diet of the ancient community of Bahrija. The data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange with identifier < PXD022848 > .

Five millennia of Bartonella quintana bacteraemia.

During the two World Wars, Bartonella quintana was responsible for trench fever and is now recognised as an agent of re-emerging infection. Many reports have indicated widespread B. quintana exposure since the 1990s. In order to evaluate its prevalence in ancient populations, we used real-time PCR to detect B. quintana DNA in 400 teeth collected from 145 individuals dating from the 1st to 19th centuries in nine archaeological sites, with the presence of negative controls. Fisher's exact test was used to compare the prevalence of B. quintana in civil and military populations. B. quintana DNA was confirmed in a total of 28/145 (19.3%) individuals, comprising 78 citizens and 67 soldiers, 20.1% and 17.9% of which were positive for B. quintana bacteraemia, respectively. This study analysed previous studies on these ancient samples and showed that the presence of B. quintana infection followed the course of time in human history; a total of 14/15 sites from five European countries had a positive prevalence. The positive rate in soldiers was higher than those of civilians, with 20% and 18.8%, respectively, in the 18th and 19th centuries, but the difference in frequency was not significant. These results confirmed the role of dental pulp in diagnosing B. quintana bacteraemia in ancient populations and showed the incidence of B. quintana in both civilians and soldiers.