Ancient proteins reveal new clues about how our ancestors lived

Researchers have discovered traces of eland proteins from a 60,000-year-old ochre surface in South Africa.

Elands are large antelopes commonly found in eastern and southern Africa.

“The most exciting part of this study is that we now have evidence that proteins can survive for tens of thousands of years in archaeological sediments. If we find similar evidence at other sites, we may be able to build a much richer picture of how our ancestors used ochre, a natural earth pigment commonly found in red hues,” says Zahra Haghighi.

She is a researcher at the University of Bergen's Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE). Haghighi led the new study in collaboration with researchers from the University of Bergen and international partners.

Ancient proteins found on an ochre surface

The research team recovered protein traces in sediment samples collected from an archaeological feature called an ochre surface. It's a thin, continuous layer rich in red ochre.

“The ochre surface was recovered from a 60,000-year-old Middle Stone Age deposit by SapienCE researchers during fieldwork at Klipdrift Shelter in South Africa. This unique feature was possibly 1 metre long, 40 centimetres wide, and up to 1 centimetre thick,” Haghighi explains.

What makes the finding particularly interesting, according to Haghighi, is that the proteins come from eland. Elands have an important place in the beliefs and rituals of the San people, Indigenous hunter-gatherers of southern Africa.

“Among the San, the eland holds significant symbolic importance and is frequently associated with power, healing, marriage, and rainmaking. The fact that eland proteins were found together with ochre, another material often linked to symbolic behaviour, raises the possibility that this connection has very ancient roots,” the researcher says.

Symbolic behaviour refers to the use of objects, images, colours, or actions to represent ideas or meanings beyond their practical use. It helps people express beliefs, identity, and social connections.

Archaeologists often see evidence of symbolic behaviour in things like art, jewellery, body decoration, and the use of pigments such as ochre.

Proteins can survive where DNA cannot

Ancient proteins, particularly collagen, can provide valuable information about the past in cases where DNA has not survived.

This is especially important in Africa, where warm and humid conditions can cause DNA to break down more quickly.

Haghighi explains that collagen is the most abundant protein in animal tissues. Because animals have so much of it, small traces can remain detectable even after tens of thousands of years.

“As a result, collagen can preserve biological information in archaeological contexts where DNA has been completely lost, making it an especially powerful tool for studying ancient human and animal interactions in Africa,” she says.

A new way to understand life in the past

Archaeologists traditionally study objects such as bones, tools, pigments, and other artefacts to understand how people lived. But many materials used by our ancestors have disappeared over time, leaving little or no visible evidence behind.

Protein analysis offers a way to uncover some of these missing traces. It can reveal which animals or biological materials were present, even when the original material has completely decomposed.

“In this study, proteins revealed that eland-derived material had once been associated with the ochre surface, providing us with a new way of studying activities that would otherwise leave little or no trace in the archaeological record, such as mixing pigments with animal products, hide processing, or other organic-material technologies,” the researcher explains.

The search for more evidence

Haghighi notes that more research is needed to understand exactly what the proteins represent.

For example, if eland proteins are repeatedly found associated with ochre surfaces at different sites, that would strengthen the case for a meaningful relationship between eland and ochre.

“Alternatively, we may find proteins from many different animal species, which could point to more practical activities such as hide processing or the preparation of ochre mixtures,” she explains.

Studying more samples from different archaeological sites will help researchers understand what these ochre surfaces were used for and whether similar behaviours were widespread across sourthern Africa during the Middle Stone Age.

Understanding the origins of symbolic behaviour

Beyond showing how ancient proteins can reveal new evidence, the discovery also helps address one of SapienCE's central research questions: how and when our ancestors began using symbols.

“Symbols are a key marker for more complex cognition which we believe forms part of the emergence of modern human behaviour. By understanding whether there were additional components to the ochre surface, we can begin to unravel whether these surfaces have any specific meaning or encode some specific information,” says Simon Armitage.

He is a researcher at SapienCE and co-author of the study.

Source:

Haghighi et al. Palaeoproteomic investigation of archaeological sediments associated with ochre use in the Middle Stone Age of southern Africa, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2026. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2025.3300

This content is paid for and presented by the University of Bergen

This content is created by the University of Bergen's communication staff, who use this platform to communicate science and share results from research with the public. The University of Bergen is one of more than 80 owners of ScienceNorway.no. Read more here.

More content from the University of Bergen:

• 

  11 metres of mud reveal 8,000 years of flood history

• 

  Researchers found a surprising abundance of life high in the mountains

• 

  “Keeping track of all the media coverage surrounding El Niño can be confusing"

• 

  What zombies can teach us about how epidemics spread

• 

  Is political polarisation dangerous? A new study provides clearer answers

• 

  The oldest water in the Arctic Ocean has been there for several hundred years