Skeleton key to fossils uncovered by scientists

Bio-archaeologists from York University worked alongside colleagues in Manchester to produce a near complete collagen sequence for the West Runton Elephant, a Steppe Mammoth skeleton which was discovered in cliffs in Norfolk in 1990.

The remarkable near-complete skeleton – the best preserved example of its species ever found in the world – is now stored by the Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service in Norwich.

Bio-archaeologist Professor Matthew Collins, from York University’s department of archaeology, said: “The time depth is absolutely remarkable. Until several years ago we did not believe we would find any collagen in a skeleton of this age, even if it was as well-preserved as the West Runton Elephant.

“We believe protein lasts in a useful form 10 times as long as DNA which is normally only useful in discoveries of up to 100,000 years old in northern Europe.”

He added: “The implications are that we can use collagen sequencing to look at very old extinct animals. It also means we can look through old sites and identify remains from tiny fragments of bone.”

The collagen sequencing was carried out at the centre for excellence in mass spectrometry at York University and is arguably the oldest protein ever sequenced. The research formed part of a study into the sequencing of mammoths and mastodons, which is published in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.

The West Runton Elephant was compared with other mammoths, modern elephants and mastodons, and despite the age of the fossil, sufficient peptides were obtained to identify the skeleton as elephantid.

Many fossils from the same era are fragments of bone, making them difficult to identify. It is hoped that future collagen sequencing will help determine species represented by even smallest scraps of bone.