Marine reservoir corrections for bowhead whale radiocarbon age determinations

1996 ◽  
Vol 33 (12) ◽  
pp. 1628-1637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur S. Dyke ◽  
Roger N. McNeely ◽  
James Hooper
Keyword(s):  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Bowhead Whale ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Marine Molluscs ◽  
Terrestrial Plant ◽  
Radiocarbon Age ◽  
Raised Beaches ◽  
Eastern Canadian Arctic ◽  
Age Determinations

Twenty-two pairs of radiocarbon dates on driftwood and bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) bones from raised beaches, dates on whale bone and terrestrial plant detritus from a stratigraphie section, and 25 additional dates on whale bones from the lowest (≤1 ka BP) raised beaches in the eastern Canadian Arctic suggest that a marine reservoir correction of about −200 years is appropriate for normalized age determinations on bone collagen from the bowhead whale in this region. This is less than the correction (−400 years) normally applied to carbonate shells of marine molluscs from this region. The carbon in bowhead collagen appears to be derived from the whales' zooplankton food rather than from marine bicarbonate.

Mass Spectrometric Radiocarbon Dates from Three Rock Paintings of Known Age

2001 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth A. Armitage ◽  
James E. Brady ◽  
Allan Cobb ◽  
John R. Southon ◽  
Marvin W. Rowe
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometric ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Radiocarbon Age ◽  
Potential Problems ◽  
Rock Paintings ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Calendar Dates ◽  
Age Determinations

Radiocarbon age determinations are presented on three hieroglyphic texts from Naj Tunich cave in Guatemala containing Maya calendar dates. The ages obtained are on average 110–140 years older than the calendar dates. Several possible reasons are discussed for this discrepancy: one that is applicable to all radiocarbon dates on charcoal, one that applies to rock paintings, and one that is specific for the tropics. Possible problems with the ages ascribed to the Maya calendar dates are also discussed. Even with the potential problems that may exist, these dates still fall within 110–140 years of the ascribed calendar dates. Caution is urged in the interpretation of dates on charcoal pigments from rock paintings; consideration of the “old wood” and “old charcoal” factors is important.

Variation in Radiocarbon Age Determinations from the Crystal River Archaeological Site, Florida

Radiocarbon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 801-810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Cherkinsky ◽  
Thomas J Pluckhahn ◽  
Victor D Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Shell Midden ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Reservoir Effect ◽  
Radiocarbon Age ◽  
Soil Charcoal ◽  
Crystal River ◽  
Age Determinations

Archaeologists interested in radiocarbon dating shell midden sites express concern regarding the accuracy of shell dates and how such determinations should be interpreted. This article discusses the problem of dating shells from sites in the southeastern United States. New results are presented comparing shell, bone, and soil-charcoal age determinations from the Crystal River site, located along the west-central Gulf Coast of Florida. Crystal River is a large multimound site whose occupants engaged in long-distance exchange throughout eastern North America during the Woodland period (∼1000 BC to AD 1050). In the summer of 2012, test units were excavated in several contexts at the site, including both mounds and occupation areas. Samples were collected for 14C dating, which were then processed at the University of Georgia Center for Applied Isotope Studies. This article focuses on samples from the stratified shell midden, from which it was hoped to construct a local correction for marine shell that could be used to date other contexts. The soil-charcoal and bone collagen from these samples have very similar ages (bone samples ranging from about 100 cal BC to cal AD 530 and soil-charcoal from cal AD 345 to 560); however, the shell samples collected from the same stratigraphic units are significantly older than the terrestrial dates (ranging from 1300 to 390 cal BC). The difference in calibrated ages between organic materials and the shells ranges between 560 to 1140 yr. This phenomenon cannot be explained solely by the marine reservoir effect. It appears that all the shell samples formed in mixed marine (∼50–60%) contexts, as indicated by the stable isotope ratios and the amount of atmospheric carbon remaining in the samples. The age of the shell samples cannot be used to date archaeological events as they are influenced not only by the marine reservoir effect, but also the local hardwater effect, which makes them significantly older.

scholarly journals Moscow MV Lomonosov State University Radiocarbon Dates I

Radiocarbon ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
N I Glushankova ◽  
O B Parunin ◽  
T A Timashkova ◽  
V Z Khait ◽  
A I Shlukov
Keyword(s):  
Measurement Procedure ◽  
State University ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Radiocarbon Age ◽  
Methodological Aspects ◽  
Age Determinations

The following list sums up the results of radiocarbon age determinations obtained at the Laboratory in 1974-1975. The list is prefaced with a brief description of the measurement procedure and discussion of some methodological aspects of the investigation that result in a higher accuracy of dating.

Holocene delevelling of Devon Island, Arctic Canada: implications for ice sheet geometry and crustal response

1998 ◽  
Vol 35 (8) ◽  
pp. 885-904 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur S Dyke
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Bowhead Whale ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Level Curves ◽  
Devon Island ◽  
Ice Load ◽  
Raised Beaches

The raised beaches and deltas of Devon Island contain an abundance of dateable materials. A large set of radiocarbon dates (228), 154 of which are new, are used to construct relative sea level curves and isobase maps for the island. The best materials for this purpose are driftwood logs (61 dates) and bowhead whale bones (74 dates) from raised beaches and mollusc shells from marine-limit deltas (20 dates) or from altitudes close to marine limit (14 dates). During the last glacial maximum, the island is thought to have lain beneath the southeastern flank of the Innuitian Ice Sheet. The relative sea level history is congruent with that inferred ice configuration. The island spans half the ice sheet width. Relative sea level curves are of simple exponential form, except near the glacial limit where an early Holocene emergence proceeded to a middle Holocene lowstand below present sea level, which was followed by submergence attending the passage of the crustal forebulge. The response times of relative sea level curves and of crustal uplift decrease from the uplift centre toward the limit of loading, but the change appears strongest near the limit. The Innuitian uplift is separated from the Laurentide uplift to the south by a strong isobase embayment over Lancaster Sound. Hence, ice load irregularities with wavelengths of about 100 km were large enough to leave an isostatic thumbprint in this region of the continent. The apparent absence of a similar embayment over Jones Sound probably indicates a greater Late Wisconsinan ice load there, or a thicker crust than in Lancaster Sound.

New Radiocarbon Dates for the Vedde Ash and the Saksunarvatn Ash from Western Norway

1996 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary H. Birks ◽  
Steinar Gulliksen ◽  
Haflidi Haflidason ◽  
Jan Mangerud ◽  
Göran Possnert
Keyword(s):  
Lake Sediment ◽  
Younger Dryas ◽  
Plant Macrofossils ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Terrestrial Plant ◽  
Radiocarbon Age ◽  
The North ◽  
Western Norway ◽  
Ams Dates

AbstractThe Vedde Ash Bed (mid-Younger Dryas) and the Saksunarvatn Ash (early Holocene) are important regional stratigraphic event markers in the North Atlantic, the Norwegian Sea, and the adjacent land area. It is thus essential to date them as precisely as possible. The occurrence of the Saksunarvatn Ash is reported for the first time from western Norway, and both tephras are dated precisely by AMS analyses of terrestrial plant material and lake sediment at Kråkenes. The Vedde Ash has been previously dated at sites in western Norway to about 10,600 yr B.P. It is obvious in the Younger Dryas sediments at Kråkenes, and its identity is confirmed geochemically. The mean of four AMS dates of samples of Salix herbacea leaves adjacent to the tephra is 10,310 ± 50 yr B.P. The Saksunarvatn Ash is not visible in the early Holocene lake sediment at Kråkenes. After removal of organic material and diatoms, the identity of the tephra particles was confirmed geochemically, and their stratigraphic concentration was estimated. From curve matching of a series of seven AMS dates of terrestrial plant macrofossils and whole sediment, the radiocarbon age of the ash is 8930–9060 yr B.P., corresponding to an age of 9930–10,010 cal yr B.P. (7980–8060 cal yr B.C.).

scholarly journals Chronometric Dating and Late Holocene Prehistory in the Hawaiian Islands: A Critical Review of Radiocarbon Dates from Moloka'I Island

Radiocarbon ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marshall Weisler
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
The United States ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Radiocarbon Age ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Age Determinations

The importance of chronometric dating in archaeology cannot be overemphasized. Indeed, most chronologies developed throughout the world during the past three decades have depended on radiocarbon age determinations to provide a temporal framework for examining change over time in cultural sequences during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. With the advent of legislation in the mid-1960s designed to protect archaeological sites in the United States threatened by increased urban development or government sponsored projects, archaeological surveys and excavations were mandated as a means for preserving information otherwise destroyed. As a result, thousands of projects have contributed to a growing body of “gray literature,” ie, unpublished proprietary or manuscript reports with very limited circulation. Within these reports are hundreds, if not thousands, of 14C age determinations, most of which are not accessible in published form. One objective of this paper is to present all the 14C age determinations for the island of Moloka'i, Hawai'i as of December 1988, including 41 dates never before published with stratigraphic details.

Implications for the Dating of Wisconsinan (Weichselian) Late-Glacial Events of Systematic Radiocarbon Age Differences between Terrestrial Plant Macrofossils from a Site in SW Ireland

2000 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris S.M. Turney ◽  
G. Russell Coope ◽  
Doug D. Harkness ◽  
J. John Lowe ◽  
Michael J.C. Walker
Keyword(s):  
Lake Sediment ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Plant Macrofossils ◽  
Age Difference ◽  
Organic Detritus ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Terrestrial Plant ◽  
Radiocarbon Age ◽  
Salix Herbacea ◽  
Depth Relationship

AbstractAMS radiocarbon dates were obtained from Salix herbacea leaves, Carex seeds, and bulk organic detritus from a lake sediment profile of Wisconsinan (Weichselian) Lateglacial age in SW Ireland. There is a systematic age difference between the dated series from the two types of macrofossils, with ages obtained from Salix herbacea leaves being 900 to 1500 14C years younger than those obtained from Carex seeds. The latter tend to be more in accord with dates from the total organic detritus in the lake sediment, although the bulk organic fraction invariably registered the older ages. Intact survival of the fragile Salix leaves indicates that they are unlikely to have been physically transferred within the sediment matrix and/or otherwise reworked from the surrounding catchment. Hence, these macrofossils are the more likely to be contemporaneous with the time of deposition. However, there is no significant correlation between measured 14C age and depth in the Salix values, which scatter over a range of 700 14C years. In contrast, the age/depth relationship for Carex shows a significant reversal, possibly reflecting the redeposition of these macrofossils, and therefore giving radiocarbon ages that are anomalously old. The data have important implications for the dating of lake sediment sequences by AMS radiocarbon measurement of terrestrial plant macrofossils.

scholarly journals Society Islands (Central Eastern Polynesia) Chronology: 11 Radiocarbon Dates for the Late Prehistoric Expansion and Proto-Historic Periods in the ‘Opunohu Valley, Mo'Orea

Radiocarbon ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer G Kahn
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Late Prehistoric ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Radiocarbon Age ◽  
Society Islands ◽  
European Contact ◽  
Multiple Structures ◽  
Ams Dating ◽  
Central Eastern ◽  
Age Determinations

The chronology of residential site construction and occupation in the upper reaches of the ‘Opunohu Valley, Mo'orea, Central Eastern Polynesia, has been debated over the last 15 yr. This paper reports a suite of 11 radiocarbon age determinations from excavations at 5 house sites and a simple temple structure (marae). Direct accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating of wood charcoal identified to short-lived taxa confirms site construction and occupation during the mid-15th to 17th centuries, supporting that maximal population density was in the centuries immediately prior to European contact. The study demonstrates that targeted dating of multiple structures within residential complexes allows for multiple phases of site construction and use to be discriminated. These data are critical for adequately assessing site contemporaneity and the development, maintenance, and expansion of residential groups and their house clusters through time.

Late glacial ice margins and deglacial chronology for southeastern Baffin Island and Hudson Strait, eastern Canadian Arctic

1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 1000-1017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay A. Stravers ◽  
Gifford H. Miller ◽  
Darrell S. Kaufman
Keyword(s):  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Hudson Bay ◽  
Baffin Island ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Glacial Ice ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Molluscan Fauna ◽  
Rising Sea Levels ◽  
Eastern Canadian Arctic

Radiocarbon dates from marine piston cores and from onshore raised marine stratigraphic sections in the Hudson Strait region were used to reconstruct deglacial isochrons for 9900, 9500, 8800–8500, and 8000 BP. At the culmination of the Gold Cove readvance (9900 BP), Labrador–Ungava ice flowed northeastward across Hudson Strait and outer Frobisher Bay and stood for the last time on the Baffin Island continental shelf. Subsequent retreat by calving was rapid and profound, opening the entire Hudson Strait marine trough by 9500 BP. At this time, ice dispersal from Foxe Basin, Labrador–Ungava, and local ice on Meta Incognita Peninsula supported tidewater margins along much of the coastline, with the exception of northernmost Ungava Peninsula, where the ice margin stabilized onshore. This onshore margin remained in place throughout the Cockburn Substage while a major northeastward readvance of Ungava Bay ice (the Noble Inlet readvance from 8800 to 8500 BP) crossed outer Hudson Strait, grounding on the Hudson Strait sill and the south coast of Meta Incognita Peninsula. Sedimentation continued in an enclosed basin in western Hudson Strait, but marine circulation was prohibited by the ice dam, and upper water column salinities became too low to support a marine molluscan fauna. Ungava Bay ice was not thick enough to sustain flow across eastern Hudson Strait, and rising sea levels soon destroyed the Noble Inlet ice dam. By 8300 BP normal marine waters were circulating in eastern Hudson Strait, followed shortly thereafter (at 8100 BP) by the deglaciation of western Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay.

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