A new revelation that the remains of a powerful ancient “man” buried in an elaborate tomb in Spain are actually female is challenging assumptions about the roles of women in early European societies.
But it’s also a vivid example of the game-changing new ways that archaeologists are using the study of proteins that make up the complex biochemistry encoded in cellular DNA.
By examining proteins in organic artifacts like teeth and bones, scientists can now learn details of the DNA that created them—but without having to analyze any actual DNA that may have survived.
Such techniques, called proteomics, have “the capacity to revolutionize archaeology,” says Marta Cintas‑Peña, an archaeologist at the University of Seville and the lead author of a new study that used proteomics to determine the sex of the woman in the tomb.
Tom Metcalfe 