scholarly journals AMS 14C Dating at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory

Radiocarbon ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Dunbar ◽  
G T Cook ◽  
P Naysmith ◽  
B G Tripney ◽  
S Xu
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Tooth Enamel ◽  
Sample Selection ◽  
Sample Pretreatment ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Commercial Activities ◽  
Main Emphasis

AbstractThis paper describes all the major procedures adopted by the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory. This includes sample pretreatment, graphite production, accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) measurement, associated stable isotope measurements, data handling, and age calculations, but with the main emphasis being on the chemical pretreatment methods. All of the above enable the laboratory to provide a complete analytical service comprising advice on sample selection, preparation and analysis of samples, and Bayesian analysis of resulting 14C (and other) data. This applies to both our research and commercial activities. The pretreatment methods that we mainly focus on are used to remove contaminant carbon from a range of sample types or to isolate a particular chemical fraction from a sample prior to combustion/hydrolysis, graphitization, and subsequent AMS 14C measurement. The methods described are for bone (collagen extraction, with and without ultrafiltration), cremated bone, tooth enamel, charcoal, grain, carbon residues, shell, wood (including alpha-cellulose isolation), peat, sediments, textiles, fuel/biofuel, and forensic samples.

scholarly journals AMS 14C Dating at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory – Corrigendum

Radiocarbon ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Dunbar ◽  
G T Cook ◽  
P Naysmith ◽  
B G Tripney ◽  
S Xu
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Ams 14C Dating

scholarly journals Capabilities of the New SUERC 5MV AMS Facility for 14C Dating

Radiocarbon ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Xu ◽  
R Anderson ◽  
C Bryant ◽  
G T Cook ◽  
A Dougans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ion Source ◽  
Negative Ion ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Performance Tests ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Routine Measurement ◽  
Consensus Values ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometer ◽  
Routine Basis

A new National Electrostatic Corporation (NEC) 5MV accelerator mass spectrometer became operational at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) in July 2002. It has 2 Cs sputter negative ion sources: a 134-sample source (S1) for the routine measurement of all species, and a hybrid source (S2) with 40 spaces for radiocarbon measurements with either graphite or CO2 samples. A number of performance tests on graphite samples have been carried out on both sources. A precison of better than 0.3% is feasible for modern samples on a routine basis. The 14C background of the machine and the graphite preparation process blank are 0.04 ± 0.01 and 0.16 ± 0.05 pMC, respectively, indicating that 14C dating back to ~50 kyr BP is possible. The normalized 14C values for a series of reference materials agree well with the IAEA, TIRI, and FIRI consensus values. Routine measurement of 14C has been underway since May 2003. Preliminary results of performance tests on the CO2 gas ion source are also reported.

scholarly journals Radiocarbon Dating of Individual Amino Acids from Archaeological Bone Collagen

Radiocarbon ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 620-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
James S O McCullagh ◽  
Anat Marom ◽  
Robert E M Hedges
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Sample Pretreatment ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Small Samples ◽  
Successful Isolation ◽  
Soil Components ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Quaternary Paleoecology

Since the development of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) for radiocarbon dating in the late 1970s, its ability to date small samples of bone has been of huge importance in archaeology and Quaternary paleoecology. The conventional approach to sample preparation has been to extract and gelatinize protein, which is then combusted and graphitized for analysis. However, this “bulk protein” can contain a heterogeneous mixture of non-collagenous molecules, including humic acids and other soil components that may be of a different age than the bone and therefore affect the accuracy of its 14C date. Sample pretreatment methods have been an important area of development in recent years but still show inadequacies for the dating of severely contaminated bone. The idea of isolating and dating individual compounds such as single amino acids, to improve dating accuracy, has been discussed in the literature since the 1960s. Hydroxyproline, for example, makes up over 10% of bone collagen but is extremely rare in most other animal proteins, increasing the chances of its presence being endogenous to the individual being dated. Its successful isolation has therefore been considered a potential “gold standard” for dating archaeological bone; however, extracting and suitably purifying single amino acids from bone has proved a challenging task.

scholarly journals Radiocarbon Dating in Near-Eastern Contexts: Confusion and Quality Control

Radiocarbon ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 1155-1166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes van der Plicht ◽  
Hendrik J Bruins
Keyword(s):  
Quality Control ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Sample Selection ◽  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Egyptian History ◽  
Proper Interpretation ◽  
Excavation Site

Near-Eastern archaeology has long remained oblivious to radiocarbon dating as unique historical calendars brought about a perception that 14C dating is superfluous. Circular chronological reasoning may occur as a result. There is now strong 14C evidence that the early part of Egyptian history seems older than age assessments currently in vogue among scholars. It is vital to apply systematic and high-quality 14C dating to each and every excavation in the Near East to measure time with the same yardstick. Such a strategy will enable chronological comparison of different areas at an excavation site and also between sites and regions, independent of cultural deliberations. This is essential for proper interpretation of archaeological layers and association with data from other fields. Radiocarbon (14C) is the most common radiometric dating tool applied in archaeology, geosciences, and environmental research. Stringent quality control is required to build up a reliable 14C chronology for the historical periods in Near-Eastern contexts. Important aspects of quality control involve regular laboratory intercomparisons, transparent duplicate and triplicate analysis of selected samples, conventional versus accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) (i.e. sample size), sample selection and association. Finally, bones may provide short-lived dates in important stratigraphic archaeological contexts.

scholarly journals Assessment of Infinite-Age Bones from the Upper Thames Valley, UK, as 14C Background Standards

Radiocarbon ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 845-853
Author(s):  
G T Cook ◽  
T F G Higham ◽  
P Naysmith ◽  
F Brock ◽  
S P H T Freeman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Background Correction ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
Chemistry Laboratories ◽  
Good Agreement

It is becoming increasingly clear that in order to generate accurate radiocarbon dates for bone collagen samples it is important to determine a sample-specific background correction to account for the greater complexity and higher number of steps in the pretreatment chemistry of this material. To provide suitable samples for the14C community, 7 bone samples were obtained from contexts within British gravel quarries, which according to other dating techniques or stratigraphic information, should be of infinite age with respect to14C. The bones were analyzed at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU) and the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) to determine their suitability. In this paper, we show that 6 of the samples were indistinguishable from background. Both institutions measured finite ages for sample 387 from Oxey Mead that were statistically indistinguishable. Further work is required to establish whether this is because the bone was intrusive and of a younger age than expected or whether it is contaminated either postdepositionally or in the laboratory. We favor the former explanation because (1) the 2 chemistry laboratories use very different pretreatment schemes, (2) collagen yields were high, and (3) the laboratories produced ages that are in good agreement. The 6 “greater than” age samples will be made available to14C laboratories to be used as background standards.

scholarly journals An Archaeological Mystery Revealed by Radiocarbon Dating of Cross-Flow Nanofiltrated Amino Acids Derived from Bone Collagen, Silk, and Hair: Case Study of the Bishops Baldwin I and Radbot II from Noyon-Tournai

Radiocarbon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 603-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathieu Boudin ◽  
Pascal Boeckx ◽  
Peter Vandenabeele ◽  
Mark van Strydonck
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Standard Sample ◽  
Cross Flow ◽  
Sample Pretreatment ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
Hydrolyzed Protein ◽  
Special Location ◽  
Pastoral Staff

Excavations in the cathedral of Tournai revealed two sepultures, which were identified by the excavators as those of bishops because of their special location in the cathedral. One burial was assigned to Baldwin I, who died in AD 1068, because (1) a ring with the inscription “BAL” was found and (2) a funeral stone with text was present on top of the grave mentioning the name Baldewinus. The second burial probably belongs to Radbot II, who was the successor of Baldwin I, and died in AD 1098. Both burials contained textiles (silk), the skeleton, a wooden pastoral staff, and human hair was still present on the skull of what was presumed to be Radbot II. All the protein-containing materials were degraded and/or contaminated. Standard sample pretreatment methods were not able to remove all the contaminants. Single and double cross-flow nanofiltration of the hydrolyzed protein-containing materials were performed. The sample quality for radiocarbon dating was improved and14C data revealed interesting and surprising results. The14C dates of the wooden pastoral staff and permeate femur confirm that the skeleton and tomb belong to bishop Baldwin I. The14C dates of hair and permeate skull indicate that the skeleton may indeed belong to bishop Radbot II. The younger14C dates of the wooden pastoral staff and silk samples indicate a postburial disturbance of the site burial during the 12th–13th century.

scholarly journals Dating and Digging Stratified Archaeology in Circumpolar North America: A View from Nunalleq, Southwestern Alaska

ARCTIC ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Ledger ◽  
Véronique Forbes ◽  
Edouard Masson-MacLean ◽  
Richard A. Knecht
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Sample Selection ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
The North ◽  
Rubus Chamaemorus ◽  
14C Age ◽  
Circumpolar North

Through the case study of the Thule-era village site of Nunalleq (GDN-248), this paper presents 14C dating results and perspectives on the issues associated with radiocarbon dating stratified archaeological sites in circumpolar North America. The objective was to investigate relative variation in the 14C age of ecofacts with the aim of establishing a hierarchy of dating suitability for Nunalleq that could more widely inform 14C sample selection on archaeological sites across the North American sub-Arctic and Arctic and Greenland. Owing to the complexities associated with interpreting and establishing the relative chronology of the deeply stratified sod deposits at Nunalleq, we adopted open-area excavation and single-context recording methods. This approach, we suggest, allowed us to eliminate stratigraphic complexity as a source of variation in 14C measurements and to assess the taphonomic issues associated with dating different ecofacts. In total, 16 samples were submitted for dating, comprising two sets of eight different ecofacts, one from each of two stratigraphically contemporary but spatially discrete contexts. In most instances, the 14C ages of ecofacts were statistically indistinguishable between the two contexts and support the relative chronological relationships established by excavation. Only Elymus arenarius (grass) manufactures and Heleomyzidae (fly) puparia produced different ages in the two contexts, variations that suggest that these items are unreliable dating materials. As noted in previous studies, Phoca sp. (seal) and Oncorhynchus sp. (salmon) bone collagen demonstrated a strong marine reservoir effect (c. 700 14C yr.). Picea sp. (wood chips) were marginally older than seeds from edible berries (Rubus chamaemorus and Empetrum nigrum) and caribou (Rangifer tarandus) bone collagen, which provided the most consistent ages.

scholarly journals An Archaeological Mystery Revealed by Radiocarbon Dating of Cross-Flow Nanofiltrated Amino Acids Derived from Bone Collagen, Silk, and Hair: Case Study of the Bishops Baldwin I and Radbot II from Noyon-Tournai

Radiocarbon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (02) ◽  
pp. 603-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathieu Boudin ◽  
Pascal Boeckx ◽  
Peter Vandenabeele ◽  
Mark van Strydonck
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Standard Sample ◽  
Cross Flow ◽  
Sample Pretreatment ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
Hydrolyzed Protein ◽  
Special Location ◽  
Pastoral Staff

Excavations in the cathedral of Tournai revealed two sepultures, which were identified by the excavators as those of bishops because of their special location in the cathedral. One burial was assigned to Baldwin I, who died in AD 1068, because (1) a ring with the inscription “BAL” was found and (2) a funeral stone with text was present on top of the grave mentioning the name Baldewinus. The second burial probably belongs to Radbot II, who was the successor of Baldwin I, and died in AD 1098. Both burials contained textiles (silk), the skeleton, a wooden pastoral staff, and human hair was still present on the skull of what was presumed to be Radbot II. All the protein-containing materials were degraded and/or contaminated. Standard sample pretreatment methods were not able to remove all the contaminants. Single and double cross-flow nanofiltration of the hydrolyzed protein-containing materials were performed. The sample quality for radiocarbon dating was improved and14C data revealed interesting and surprising results. The14C dates of the wooden pastoral staff and permeate femur confirm that the skeleton and tomb belong to bishop Baldwin I. The14C dates of hair and permeate skull indicate that the skeleton may indeed belong to bishop Radbot II. The younger14C dates of the wooden pastoral staff and silk samples indicate a postburial disturbance of the site burial during the 12th–13th century.

scholarly journals Assessment of Infinite-Age Bones from the Upper Thames Valley, UK, as 14C Background Standards

Radiocarbon ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 845-853 ◽  
Author(s):  
G T Cook ◽  
T F G Higham ◽  
P Naysmith ◽  
F Brock ◽  
S P H T Freeman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Background Correction ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
Chemistry Laboratories ◽  
Good Agreement

It is becoming increasingly clear that in order to generate accurate radiocarbon dates for bone collagen samples it is important to determine a sample-specific background correction to account for the greater complexity and higher number of steps in the pretreatment chemistry of this material. To provide suitable samples for the 14C community, 7 bone samples were obtained from contexts within British gravel quarries, which according to other dating techniques or stratigraphic information, should be of infinite age with respect to 14C. The bones were analyzed at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU) and the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) to determine their suitability. In this paper, we show that 6 of the samples were indistinguishable from background. Both institutions measured finite ages for sample 387 from Oxey Mead that were statistically indistinguishable. Further work is required to establish whether this is because the bone was intrusive and of a younger age than expected or whether it is contaminated either postdepositionally or in the laboratory. We favor the former explanation because (1) the 2 chemistry laboratories use very different pretreatment schemes, (2) collagen yields were high, and (3) the laboratories produced ages that are in good agreement. The 6 “greater than” age samples will be made available to 14C laboratories to be used as background standards.

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