Using minimally invasive ZooMS to identify faunal material from Spitzkloof A Rockshelter

Proposal to identify 10 fragmentary faunal bones from Sptizkloof A Rockshelter in Namaqualand in the Northern Cape Province using a novel minimally invasive Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) method. Samples will be analyzed at the ADaPT facility at the University of British Columbia, Canada. This minimally invasive method entails rubbing a polishing stick over the fragmentary (unidentifiable) faunal bones and then analyzing the collagen residue captured on the polishing film stick instead of destructively analyzing the faunal material itself.