Researchers in the McCullagh group have discovered that red paint preserved on the surface of a 1000-year-old gold mask, excavated from a Middle Sicán tomb in Peru, contains proteins from both blood and egg.
After infrared spectroscopy had identified the presence of proteins in the red paint, the team used proteomics mass spectrometry techniques to uncover the presence of human blood and bird egg proteins in the paint’s binder. These materials may have had cultural significance to the Sicán people, who lived in what is now Peru around 1000 years ago.
The successful application of these methods to the first scientifically excavated Sicán mask will hopefully allow authentication of the provenance of other similar items in museums and private collections.
You can read the full story in this article from the Analytical Scientist, and the findings were recently published in the Journal of Proteome Research.
