  Using a combination of dielectric spectroscopy and solid-state deuteron NMR,
the hydration water dynamics of connective tissue proteins is studied at
sub-ambient temperatures. In this range, the water dynamics follows an
Arrhenius law. A scaling analysis of dielectric losses, 'two-phase' NMR
spectra, and spin-lattice relaxation times consistently yield evidence for a
Gaussian distribution of energy barriers. With the dielectric data as input,
random-walk simulations of a large-angle, quasi-isotropic water reorientation
provide an approximate description of stimulated-echo data on hydrated elastin.
This secondary process takes place in an essentially rigid energy landscape,
but in contrast to typical {\beta}-relaxations it is quasi-isotropic and
delocalized. The delocalization is inferred from previous NMR diffusometry
experiments. To emphasize the distinction from conventional {\beta}-processes,
for aqueous systems such a matrix-decoupled relaxation was termed a
{\nu}-process. It is emphasized that the phenomenology of this time-honored,
'new' process is shared by many non-aqueous binary glasses in which the
constituent components exhibit a sufficient dynamical contrast.
