Fig 1.
Skull from hutia, Capromys sp. (sample number 24, Bedding Plane II Cave, Cayman Brac) showing an example of the extent of mineralisation that is typical in Cayman Island assemblages.
Images show left (A), right (B), dorsal (C), ventral (D) and anterior (E) sides of skull. For interest, arrows indicate sites where sampling was achieved for 14C dating and ZooMS analysis.
Table 1.
Deposition location, %yield, %C, collagen C:N ratios, 14C dates, calibrated calendar dates (AD, 95% confidence range) and ZooMS result of deposited bone samples (n = 20) from five caves on Cayman Brac.
Table 2.
A test for ZooMS as a pre-screening method, showing deposition location and ZooMS result for 81 deposited bone samples from Chamber 5, Green Cave (Cayman Brac).
Fig 2.
Example MALDI-MS spectra showing peptide mass fingerprints (PMFs) from: (A) collagen extracted from a reference sample of Capromys pilorides following digestion with trypsin; (B) 10% ACN fractionation of Cayman Brac sub-fossil sample number 7 following digestion with trypsin and purification using C18 solid phase extraction; and (C) Cayman Brac sub-fossil sample number 20 following digestion with trypsin, indicating a failed result (i.e. a lack of obtainable collagen in the sample).
Some peaks are labelled for interest and to demonstrate a match with Capromys sp.
Fig 3.
MALDI-MS spectra showing successful peptide mass fingerprints (PMFs) following 10% ACN fractionations of samples 430 (A), and 433 (B).
Both samples were digested with trypsin and purified using C18 solid phase extraction. Some peaks are labelled for interest and to demonstrate a match with Capromys sp.