scholarly journals 14C Dating of the Upper Paleolithic Site at Krems-Wachtberg, Austria

Radiocarbon ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 847-855 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Einwögerer ◽  
M Händel ◽  
C Neugebauer-Maresch ◽  
U Simon ◽  
P Steier ◽  
...  

In the course of new excavations at the Upper Paleolithic site at Krems-Wachtberg in the loess region near Krems, Lower Austria, a double burial of newborns was discovered in 2005. One year later, a single grave of an infant was excavated nearby. Both graves are associated with the well-preserved living floor of an Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherer camp with distinct archaeological features and a rich Gravettian find assemblage. Several charcoal samples from different stratigraphic positions were 14C dated with the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) method at VERA. The 14C ages confirm the archaeological assessment of the site to the Gravettian time period. According to the uncalibrated 14C ages, the formation time of the living floor is ~27.0 14C kyr BP. 14C data of ~28.6 14C kyr BP determined for an archaeological horizon below the living floor indicate that the location may have been used earlier by people in the Middle Upper Paleolithic.

Radiocarbon ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
E M Wild ◽  
C Neugebauer-Maresch ◽  
T Einwögerer ◽  
P Stadler ◽  
P Steier ◽  
...  

The open-air archaeological site at Krems-Hundssteig is a well-known Upper Paleolithic site located in Lower Austria. The site was discovered in the late 19th/early 20th centuries when a large number of archaeological remains were collected during the course of loess quarrying. Although no systematic excavation has ever been performed, Krems-Hundssteig has been described since its discovery as typical of the Aurignacian period in this region based on the numerous archaeological finds; accordingly, the culture has been named Kremsien by some authors. Surprisingly, the artifacts found in a recent excavation adjacent to this location showed solely Gravettian features, calling into question the original assignment to the Aurignacian. Although the earlier assignment was supported by a radiocarbon date of ∼35 kyr BP (Hahn 1977), new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dates proved that the recently excavated cultural layer originates from the Gravettian period. Older paleosols were also detected by sondage drillings at some depth below it.The new results indicate that a large Aurignacian level and a substantial complex of Gravettian layers are present in this area. Therefore, it must be assumed that more than 1 cultural level was affected and destroyed by the historic loess quarrying, and that the assemblage of Krems-Hundssteig artifacts, traditionally ascribed to the Aurignacian, might be interspersed with Gravettian pieces.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 455-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
T H Donders ◽  
F Wagner ◽  
K van der Borg ◽  
A F M de Jong ◽  
H Visscher

Sub-fossil sections from a Florida wetland were accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dated and the sedimentological conditions were determined. 14C data were calibrated using a combined wiggle-match and 14C bomb-pulse approach. Repeatable results were obtained providing accurate peat chronologies for the last 130 calendar yr. Assessment of the different errors involved led to age models with 3–5 yr precision. This allows direct calibration of paleoenvironmental proxies with meteorological data. The time frame in which 14C dating is commonly applied can possibly be extended to include the 20th century.


Radiocarbon ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. L. Watchman ◽  
R. A. Lessard ◽  
A. J. T. Jull ◽  
L. J. Toolin ◽  
Weston Blake

We used a continuous krypton ion laser to rapidly oxidize milligram-sized fragments of coniferous driftwood of known ages, and dated the resulting carbon dioxide by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). AMS 14C ages of non-pretreated young wood from different parts of two logs were within 10% of the ages of conventionally determined alkaline insoluble fractions. The age of the oldest whole wood measured after laser oxidation was within the error ranges of conventional values.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 591-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Mueller ◽  
Paul Muzikar

When using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) for radiocarbon dating, it is important to correct for carbon contamination that is added to the sample and the standard during chemical processing. We derive an equation for making this correction that generalizes previous work in several ways. We treat the case in which contaminating carbon is added during both the combustion step and graphitization step. Taking this two-stage contamination process into account is particularly important when only a fraction of the CO2 produced in the combustion is graphitized. We also allow for the fact that the 13C fractions of the sample, the standard, and the contaminants may be different.


Radiocarbon ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 767-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ganna I. Zaitseva ◽  
Göran Possnert ◽  
Andrey Yu. Alekseev ◽  
Valentin A. Dergachev ◽  
Anatoly A. Sementsov

The first radiocarbon dates for the famous monuments of European Scythia were produced for the Kelermes, Seven Brothers, Solocha and Chertomlyk barrows (burial mounds) by both accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and conventional methods. The obtained 14C dates confirmed the traditional archaeological chronology, which was based on the analysis of written data and typological comparisons of Scythian artifacts with similar objects found in the Ancient East and Greece. The 14C dates for the European Scythian monuments are compared with the Asian ones. The 14C chronology of the European Scythian monuments shows chronological synchronisms between the Asiatic and European monuments. The calibrated ages for the investigated barrows generally agree with the archaeological data.


Radiocarbon ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 649-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Haesaerts ◽  
Ilic Borziak ◽  
Johannes Van Der Plicht ◽  
Freddy Damblon

We discuss the radiocarbon chronology of the loess deposited during the Upper Pleniglacial (Isotope Stage II) for the key site of Cosautsi (Republic of Moldova), which presents some major problems in 14C dating. Special care was paid to accurate microstratigraphic positioning of samples, collection of top-quality material (mainly conifer charcoal), and selection of uncontaminated pieces for dating and crossdating with bones by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and/or conventional 14C dating. The results provide reliable and precise information on the sedimentation processes, the succession of short climatic events and the cycle of recurrent human settlements on the site between ∼20,000 and 16,000 bp. Two sets of climatic improvements can be ascribed to interstadial oscillations named, successively, Cosautsi VI (19,500–19,000 bp) and Cosautsi V (18–17,500 bp).


2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (12) ◽  
pp. 1768 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen H. Andrews ◽  
Christiane Yeman ◽  
Caroline Welte ◽  
Bodo Hattendorf ◽  
Lukas Wacker ◽  
...  

Bomb-produced 14C has been used to make valid estimates of age for various marine organisms for 25 years, but fish ages that lead to birth years earlier than the period of increase in 14C lose their time specificity. As a result, bomb 14C dating is limited to a minimum age from the last year of prebomb levels because the temporal variation in 14C in the marine surface layer is negligible for decades before c. 1958. The longevity of red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) in the Gulf of Mexico remains unresolved despite various forms of support for ages near 50–60 years. Although the age and growth of red snapper have been verified or validated to a limited extent, some scepticism remains about longevity estimates that exceed 30 years. In this study, red snapper otoliths were analysed for 14C using a novel laser ablation–accelerator mass spectrometry technique to provide a continuous record of 14C uptake. This approach provided a basis for age validation that extends beyond the normal limits of bomb 14C dating with confirmation of a 60-year longevity for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico.


2015 ◽  
Vol 85 ◽  
pp. 157-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Jonas Stutz ◽  
John J. Shea ◽  
Jason A. Rech ◽  
Jeffrey S. Pigati ◽  
Jim Wilson ◽  
...  

Radiocarbon ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 1371-1379 ◽  
Author(s):  
J R Southon ◽  
A L Magana

We have compared accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon results on wood samples at or near the limit of 14C dating, pretreated with a standard acid-base-acid (ABA) protocol, with those obtained from cellulose prepared from the same samples by several modifications of the Jayme-Wise cellulose extraction method (Green 1963). These tests were carried out to determine the most efficient way to ensure low backgrounds in 14C measurements of well-preserved ancient wood samples.


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