title: Open sesame: Identification of sesame oil and oil soot ink in organic deposits of Tang Dynasty lamps from Astana necropolis in China.
abstract: Lamp illuminants evidence the exploitation of natural resources, animal and plant domestication, commerce, religious practices and nutrition of ancient populations. However, the physicochemical analysis of their major constituent-burned, degraded and aged mixture of triacylglycerols is imprecise and may lead to ambiguous interpretations. We applied proteomics to analyze fuel deposits from eight lamps dated by 6th to 8th centuries AD that were excavated at the Astana necropolis (Xinjiang, China) and determined their origin by identifying organism-specific proteins. Proteomics evidence corroborated and detailed the assignments of source organism relying upon comparative profiling of intact triacylglycerols by shotgun lipidomics. We found that ruminant (mostly, sheep) fat, cattle ghee and sesame oil were common combustibles in Astana and concluded that sesame as an oilseed appeared in China under Tang Dynasty concomitantly with the expansion of Buddhism.
authors.affiliation: MPI of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shevchenko
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, PR China.|Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Yimin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: MPI of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Knaust
authors.affiliation: MPI of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Jean-Marc
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Verbavatz
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, PR China.|Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Huijuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mai
authors.affiliation: Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum, Ürümchi, PR China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, PR China.|Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Changsui
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: MPI of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shevchenko
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002681:China; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D007281:Ink; D010163:Paleontology; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D040901:Proteomics; D012715:Sesame Oil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012756:Sheep; D053260:Soot / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D053260:Soot; D012715:Sesame Oil