PROTEIN IDENTIFICATION OF BLOOD RESIDUES ON EXPERIMENTAL STONE TOOLS

An experimental butchery of a goat was performed at the site of Olorge sailie, Kenya, utilizing tools made from local source rock. The presen ce of blood on the experimental tools was tested with a series of comm ercially available polyclonal antisera. Blood could be identified immu nologically on the experimental tools, and laboratory exposure to UV i rradiation effectively destroyed all immunoreactivity of the blood on the lithics. Verification of the source of the blood as goat was obser ved in the relative reactivity of these antisera through a small range of dilution of the rock extract. Albumin was identified as part of th e protein fraction remaining on the tools; IgG was not preserved at na nogram levels of detection. These experiments illustrate the importanc e of (1) antiserum concentration, (2) antigen (tool extract) concentra tion and (3) environmental impacts such as sunlight in the interpretat ions of residues extracted from stone tools. (C) 1996 Academic Press L imited