scholarly journals 14C Dating of mortar from ruins of an early medieval church Hohenrätien GR, Switzerland

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-123
Author(s):  
Irka Hajdas ◽  
Mantana Maurer ◽  
Maria Belen Röttig
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
Early Medieval ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Radiocarbon Age ◽  
Medieval Church ◽  
The World ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractNumerous ruins around the world lack the radiometric dating due to the scarcity of organic carbon. Here, we present results of radiocarbon dating of mortar samples from an early Medieval church Hohenrätien GR, Switzerland, which was dated to the early 6th century, based on typology. The method of dating mortars, which is currently applied at the ETH laboratory, involves sieving the crushed mortar, selection of grain size 45−63 μm and sequential dissolution resulting in four fractions of CO2 collected in a 3-second interval each. Two mortar samples, which were analyzed using sequential dissolution and one by dating a bulk of lime lump, resulted in a combined radiocarbon age of 1551±21 BP translating to the calendar age of 427−559 AD.

scholarly journals 14C Dating Compared to Art Historical Dating of Roman and Coptic Textiles from Egypt

Radiocarbon ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 231-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Van Strydonck ◽  
Antoine De Moor ◽  
Dominique Bénazeth
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Interquartile Range ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Art Historians ◽  
Representative Selection ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Individual Objects

A representative selection of Roman and Coptic textiles is used to compare the radiocarbon dating results with the chronology proposed by art historians. In some cases, the comparison was made on individual objects, but in other cases, groups of stylistically and/or technologically related textiles were compared. In the case of the latter, the interquartile range was calculated. The results of this comparison show that some individual samples and groups are dated older than expected, while for another group the opposite is the case. One group was matching well with the presumed period as a whole, but not on the basis of the individual pieces. The analyses showed the necessity of 14C dating to obtain a more accurate dating of Coptic textiles.

scholarly journals Identification, Extraction, and Preparation of Reliable Lime Samples for 14C Dating of Plasters and Mortars with the “Pure Lime Lumps” Technique

Radiocarbon ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 933-942 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni L A Pesce ◽  
Richard J Ball ◽  
Gianluca Quarta ◽  
Lucio Calcagnile
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Historic Sites ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Relative Simplicity ◽  
Lime Mortars ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Contamination Problem

Radiocarbon dating was first applied to historic lime mortars during the 1960s. However, despite the relative simplicity of the technique in principle, a number of subsequent studies have highlighted important aspects that should be considered. One of the most significant of these challenges arises from sample contamination by carbonaceous substances such as incompletely burnt limestone and aggregates of fossil origin containing “dead” 14C. More recent studies have shown that in the majority of old lime-based mixtures the contamination problem can be avoided through selection of pure lime lumps. These particular types of lumps are believed to originate from areas where the lime is incompletely mixed with the aggregate. It has been demonstrated that even a single lime lump can provide sufficient material for a 14C date of the mortar from which the lump was taken (Pesce et al. 2009). This paper describes the practical challenges associated with location, extraction, and preparation of 4 lime lumps extracted from 2 new sites for 14C dating. These include distinguishing the lime lumps from other lumps present in the matrix and the removal of material surrounding the lime lump. The coherence of 14C dating with other archaeological information on the chronology of historic sites is highlighted through case studies.

scholarly journals Stepped-Combustion 14C Dating of Sediment: A Comparison with Established Techniques

Radiocarbon ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (2A) ◽  
pp. 255-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
J McGeehin ◽  
G S Burr ◽  
A J T Jull ◽  
D Reines ◽  
J Gosse ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Clay Minerals ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Age Determination ◽  
Clay Content ◽  
Plant Macrofossils ◽  
Bulk Sediment ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Organic Carbon Fractions ◽  
Sediment Age

Radiocarbon dating of bulk sediment has long been used as a method of last resort when reliable wood, charcoal, or plant macrofossils are not available for analysis. Accurate dating of sediment is complicated by the presence of multiple organic carbon fractions, each with a potentially different 14C activity. Additionally, the presence of carbon bound by clay minerals can significantly reduce the accuracy of a sediment age determination, with the oldest 14C ages seen in samples with the highest clay content (Scharpenseel and Becker-Heidmann 1992).

scholarly journals Radiocarbon dating of alpine ice cores with the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) fraction

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Fang ◽  
Theo Jenk ◽  
Thomas Singer ◽  
Shugui Hou ◽  
Margit Schwikowski
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Dissolved Organic Carbon ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Extraction Procedure ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Complete Removal ◽  
Core Sample ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
14C Dating

Abstract. High-alpine glaciers are valuable archives of past climatic and environmental conditions. The interpretation of the preserved signal requires a precise chronology. Radiocarbon (14C) dating of the water-insoluble organic carbon (WIOC) fraction has become an important dating tool to constrain the age of ice cores from mid-latitude and low-latitude glaciers. However, in some cases this method is restricted by the low WIOC concentration in the ice. In this work, we report first 14C dating results using the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) fraction, which is present at concentrations of at least a factor of two higher than the WIOC fraction. We evaluated this new approach by comparison to the established WIO14C dating based on parallel ice core sample sections from four different Eurasian glaciers covering an age range of several hundred to around 20’000 years. 14C dating of the two fractions yielded comparable ages with WIO14C revealing a slight, barely significant, systematic offset towards older ages. Our data suggests this to be caused by incompletely removed carbonate from mineral dust (14C depleted) contributing to the WIOC fraction. While in the DOC extraction procedure inorganic carbon is monitored to ensure complete removal, the average removal efficiency for WIOC samples was here estimated to be ~96%. We did not find any indication of in-situ production systematically contributing to DO14C as suggested in a previous study. By using the DOC instead of the WIOC fraction for 14C dating, the required ice mass can be reduced to typically ~250 g, yielding a precision of ±200 years or even better if sample sizes typically required for WIO14C dating are used. This study shows the potential of pushing radiocarbon dating of ice forward even to remote and Polar Regions, where the carbon content in the ice is particularly low, when applying the DOC fraction for 14C dating.

Holocene and latest Pleistocene cirque glaciations in the Shuswap Highland, British Columbia

1978 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 865-873 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Duford ◽  
G. D. Osborn
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Glacial Deposits ◽  
Canadian Rockies ◽  
Radiocarbon Age ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
The World

Ages of glacial deposits in cirques of the Shuswap Highland, British Columbia are approximated or bracketed using tephrochronology, radiocarbon dating and lichenometry. There is evidence for two minor Holocene glacial advances. The younger, named the Raft Mountain Advance, is defined by the type Raft Mountain moraine, which is about 100 years old judging from Rhizocarpon lichens. No volcanic ash is found on the moraine or its equivalents. The older, named the Dunn Peak Advance, is defined by the type Dunn Peak moraine and equivalent deposits in the Dunn Peak area. These deposits bear Mazama ash and are thus older than 6600 years; one of the moraines has a minimum radiocarbon age of about 7400 years. The deposits are younger than the Late Wisconsin deglaciation in southern B.C. (about 11 000 years BP). In addition, an earlier event, possibly a stillstand, is represented by a moraine (the Harper Creek moraine) downstream of the type Dunn Peak moraine. This moraine is also bracketed between 6600 and 11 000 years in age. The Dunn Peak Advance may be correlative with an Early Holocene Advance reported from the Canadian Rockies and northern American Rockies, and the Raft Mountain Advance is correlative with very recent advances reported from several parts of the world.

scholarly journals Radiocarbon dating of alpine ice cores with the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) fraction

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 1537-1550
Author(s):  
Ling Fang ◽  
Theo M. Jenk ◽  
Thomas Singer ◽  
Shugui Hou ◽  
Margit Schwikowski
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Dissolved Organic Carbon ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Mineral Dust ◽  
Ice Cores ◽  
Core Sample ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Analytical Uncertainty

Abstract. High-alpine glaciers are valuable archives of past climatic and environmental conditions. The interpretation of the preserved signal requires a precise chronology. Radiocarbon (14C) dating of the water-insoluble organic carbon (WIOC) fraction has become an important dating tool to constrain the age of ice cores from mid-latitude and low-latitude glaciers. However, in some cases this method is restricted by the low WIOC concentration in the ice. In this work, we report first 14C dating results using the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) fraction, which is present at concentrations of at least a factor of 2 higher than the WIOC fraction. We evaluated this new approach by comparison to the established WIO14C dating based on parallel ice core sample sections from four different Eurasian glaciers covering an age range of several hundred to around 20 000 years; 14C dating of the two fractions yielded comparable ages, with WIO14C revealing a slight, barely significant, systematic offset towards older ages comparable in magnitude with the analytical uncertainty. We attribute this offset to two effects of about equal size but opposite in direction: (i) in-situ-produced 14C contributing to the DOC resulting in a bias towards younger ages and (ii) incompletely removed carbonates from particulate mineral dust (14C-depleted) contributing to the WIOC fraction with a bias towards older ages. The estimated amount of in-situ-produced 14C in the DOC fraction is smaller than the analytical uncertainty for most samples. Nevertheless, under extreme conditions, such as very high altitude and/or low snow accumulation rates, DO14C dating results need to be interpreted cautiously. While during DOC extraction the removal of inorganic carbon is monitored for completeness, the removal for WIOC samples was so far only assumed to be quantitative, at least for ice samples containing average levels of mineral dust. Here we estimated an average removal efficiency of 98±2 %, resulting in a small offset of the order of the current analytical uncertainty. Future optimization of the removal procedure has the potential to improve the accuracy and precision of WIO14C dating. With this study we demonstrate that using the DOC fraction for 14C dating not only is a valuable alternative to the use of WIOC but also benefits from a reduced required ice mass of typically ∼250 g to achieve comparable precision of around ±200 years. This approach thus has the potential of pushing radiocarbon dating of ice forward even to remote regions where the carbon content in the ice is particularly low.

14C Dating of Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) in Loess-Paleosol Using Sequential Pyrolysis and Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS)

Radiocarbon ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 563-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Cheng ◽  
Weijian Zhou ◽  
Hong Wang ◽  
Xuefeng Lu ◽  
Hua Du
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Pyrolysis Temperature ◽  
Chemical Extraction ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Soc Fractions

The chemical extraction of soil organic carbon (SOC) fractions from soils often does not produce satisfactory results for radiocarbon dating. In this study, a sequential pyrolysis technique was investigated. The soil was pyrolyzed at temperatures of 200, 400, 600, and 800 °C to partition organic carbon into pyrolytic volatile (Py-V) and pyrolytic residue (Py-R) fractions. The preliminary results show that the 14C dates of both fractions become progressively older as the pyrolysis temperature is increased. In addition, the ages of the Py-V fractions are consistently younger than the corresponding Py-R fractions extracted at the same temperature. Experimental results of known-age paleosol samples indicate that the Py-V fractions obtained between 600 and 800 °C yield the most reliable ages. This technique provides a new approach to improve the accuracy of 14C dating of loess-paleosol sequences.

scholarly journals WoSIS: Serving standardised soil profile data for the world

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels H. Batjes ◽  
Eloi Ribeiro ◽  
Ad van Oostrum ◽  
Johan Leenaars ◽  
Tom Heng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Ph ◽  
Soil Texture ◽  
Soil Profile ◽  
Information Service ◽  
Profile Data ◽  
The World ◽  
Soil Information ◽  
Point Data ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract. The aim of the World Soil Information Service (WoSIS) is to serve quality-assessed, georeferenced soil data (point, polygon, and grid) to the international community upon their standardisation and harmonisation. So far, the focus has been on developing procedures for legacy point data, with special attention for the selection of soil analytical and physical properties considered in the GlobalSoilMap specifications (e.g. organic carbon, soil pH, soil texture (sand, silt, and clay), coarse fragments (

“To Corrupt a Man in the Midst of a Verse”: Ben Jonson and the Prose of the World

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-72
Author(s):  
Jacob Tootalian
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Mode ◽  
Ben Jonson ◽  
Digital Analysis ◽  
Interactive Engagement ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Linguistic Patterns ◽  
The World ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Bartholomew Fair

Ben Jonson's early plays show a marked interest in prose as a counterpoint to the blank verse norm of the Renaissance stage. This essay presents a digital analysis of Jonson's early mixed-mode plays and his two later full-prose comedies. It examines this selection of the Jonsonian corpus using DocuScope, a piece of software that catalogs sentence-level features of texts according to a series of rhetorical categories, highlighting the distinctive linguistic patterns associated with Jonson's verse and prose. Verse tends to employ abstract, morally and emotionally charged language, while prose is more often characterized by expressions that are socially explicit, interrogative, and interactive. In the satirical economy of these plays, Jonson's characters usually adopt verse when they articulate censorious judgements, descending into prose when they wade into the intractable banter of the vicious world. Surprisingly, the prosaic signature that Jonson fashioned in his earlier drama persisted in the two later full-prose comedies. The essay presents readings of Every Man Out of his Humour and Bartholomew Fair, illustrating how the tension between verse and prose that motivated the satirical dynamics of the mixed-mode plays was released in the full-prose comedies. Jonson's final experiments with theatrical prose dramatize the exhaustion of the satirical impulse by submerging his characters almost entirely in the prosaic world of interactive engagement.

Presence, Environment, and Sound and the Role of Imagination

2019 ◽  
pp. 667-681
Author(s):  
Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Keyword(s):  
Computer Games ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Actual World ◽  
Sensory Input ◽  
The World ◽  
Visual Dimension ◽  
The Creation ◽  
First Person Shooter ◽  
Selection Of

Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard addresses the role of sound in the creation of presence in virtual and actual worlds. He argues that imagination is a central part of the generation and selection of perceptual hypotheses—models of the world in which we can act—that emerge from what Grimshaw-Aagaard calls the “exo-environment” (the sensory input) and the “endo-environment” (the cognitive input). Grimshaw-Aagaard further divides the exo-environment into a primarily auditory and a primarily visual dimension and he deals with the actual world of his own apartment and the virtual world of first-person-shooter computer games in order to exemplify how we perceptually construct an environment that allows for the creation of presence.

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