About the Project
This project is co-supervised by Prof. Adrian Lister (Natural History Museum)
Dating underpins our understanding of the past, but beyond the limit of radiocarbon (~50,000 years), archaeological and geological sites become difficult to date. Amino acid geochronology has the potential to date the whole of the Quaternary (the last 2-3 million years), a crucial period for understanding both climate change and human evolution. The combination of a closed-system approach (Penkman et al., 2008) with advances in chromatography provides an extremely powerful dating tool (Penkman et al., 2011). However it is the direct dating of animals (e.g. mammals) that remains a key challenge in geology and archaeology. This project aims to build on the pilot results we have on enamel, testing the methods of extraction, the patterns of degradation, and its application to fossils.
Enamel proteins show considerable promise for closed-system behaviour (Griffin et al., 2008), but analysis is not straightforward, as the mineral interferes with the chromatographic separation. Removal of this phosphate is not facile, as extraction must not affect the amino acids. A series of extraction methods will be tested exhaustively using modern enamel, tracking the breakdown patterns of the proteins through high temperature experiments. In collaboration with the Natural History Museum, we will test the application of the analytical protocols on a range of well-dated large mammal fossils (e.g. mammoths and woolly rhinos).
The project offers an enviable range of multidisciplinary training; the student will gain hands-on expertise in state-of-the-art analytical techniques for method development and amino acid racemisation (chiral amino acid analysis by RP-HPLC and UHPLC), which will be a great strength in any field of chemistry. Due to the inter-disciplinary nature of this research, the student will be fully supported by the project team in the archaeological, geological and geochemical background and interpretation, with exciting opportunities to go into the field for sample collection.
We have an Open Day on Wednesday 7 December. For more information and to register:
http://www.york.ac.uk/chemistry/postgraduate/openday/
Funding Notes
Competition funding for UK applicants from the Natural Environment Research Council. The first round of applications has now closed but if not all awards are made at the end of February a second round of awards will be made in April. Applicants from other EU countries may apply if they have lived in the UK for at least 3 years and meet the residency requirements as set out in the NERC Studentship Handbook 2011-12: http://www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/application/studentships/studentbook2011.pdf
References
Penkman, K.E.H, Kaufman, D.S., Maddy, D. & Collins, M.J. 2008. Closed-system behaviour of the intra-crystalline fraction of amino acids in mollusc shells. Quaternary Geochronology, 3, 2-25
Penkman, K.E.H., Preece, R.C., Bridgland, D.R., Keen, D.H., Meijer, T., Parfitt, S.A., White, T.S. & Collins, M.J. 2011. A chronological framework for the British Quaternary based on Bithynia opercula. Nature, 476, 446-449
Griffin, R.C., Moody, H., Penkman, K.E.H., Fagan, M., Curtis, N. & Collins, M.J. 2008. A new approach to amino acid racemization in enamel: testing of a less destructive sampling methodology. Journal of Forensic Science, 53 (4), 910-916
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