scholarly journals Radiocarbon Dating of the Decorated Cosquer Cave (France)

Radiocarbon ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 621-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Valladas ◽  
A Quiles ◽  
M Delque-Kolic ◽  
E Kaltnecker ◽  
C Moreau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Deep Water ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Wood Charcoal ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates

AbstractThe Grotte Cosquer (southeastern France) is a Paleolithic painted cave only accessible by a deep-water dive. The cave has yielded numerous Paleolithic engravings and drawings, which were produced from wood charcoal. This article presents new radiocarbon dates obtained on samples collected in 2012 directly on 17 parietal representations and at the soil surface, and discusses the 14C results obtained since the discovery of the cave in 1992. A total of 41 samples were dated with ages ranging from 33,000 to 20,000 cal BP. They show that the cave was intermittently decorated over about 10,000 yr.

scholarly journals Isotopic Fractionation of Norwegian Materials for Radiocarbon Dating

Radiocarbon ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 980-986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steinar Gulliksen
Keyword(s):  
Standard Error ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Isotopic Fractionation ◽  
Wood Charcoal ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Standard Errors ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Bone Material ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
C Value

To improve reporting of radiocarbon dates, Stuiver and Polach (1977) recommend that reported standard errors should include the error in the applied δ13C value, and suggest estimated mean values for δ13C to be applied when not measured. Based on δ13C data for ca 250 samples measured during 1975-1979, mean values for different materials dated by the Trondheim radiocarbon laboratory have been compiled. All material is from Norway and Svalbard (marine bone collagen). For peat, gyttja, and terrestrial bone material, δ13C should be measured to obtain optimal precision in the dates. For shell, wood, charcoal, and marine bones, the standard error in an estimated δ13C value will only increase uncertainty of a date from ±50 years to ca ±55 years.

Validity of Ams Dates on Maize from the Tehuacán Valley: A Comment on Macneish and Eubanks

2001 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Austin Long ◽  
Gayle J. Fritz
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Wood Charcoal ◽  
Individual Plant ◽  
Tehuacán Valley ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Rock Shelter ◽  
Ams Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Tehuacan Valley ◽  
Ams Dates ◽  
Plant Specimen

MacNeish and Eubanks (2000) reject the AMS radiocarbon dates on maize from the Tehuacán Valley, claiming that the specimens were contaminated with a substance called Bedacryl. We do not believe that the dated fragments were contaminated, and we review the processes by which they were selected and analyzed. We also describe Bedacryl and conclude that, had it been present as a contaminant, the resulting 14C ages should have been older rather than younger than expected. Considered along with recent AMS dates on cultigens from Tamaulipas, it seems evident that post-depositional disturbances in rock-shelter sites sometimes caused mixing of older and younger objects. Direct AMS radiocarbon dating is currently the best and least destructive way to determine whether or not an individual plant specimen is the same age as seemingly associated wood charcoal.

scholarly journals A Lateglacial palaeosol cover in the Altdarss area, southern Baltic Sea coast (northeast Germany): investigations on pedology, geochronology and botany

2006 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Kaiser ◽  
A. Barthelmes ◽  
S. Czakó Pap ◽  
A. Hilgers ◽  
W. Janke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Cover ◽  
Younger Dryas ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Vegetation Pattern ◽  
Buried Soils ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Buried Soil ◽  
Nw Europe ◽  
Aeolian Sands ◽  
Sea Coast

AbstractA new site with Lateglacial palaeosols covered by 0.8 - 2.4 m thick aeolian sands is presented. The buried soils were subjected to multidisciplinary analyses (pedology, micromorphology, geochronology, dendrology, palynology, macrofossils). The buried soil cover comprises a catena from relatively dry (’Nano’-Podzol, Arenosol) via moist (Histic Gleysol, Gleysol) to wet conditions (Histosol). Dry soils are similar to the so-called Usselo soil, as described from sites in NW Europe and central Poland. The buried soil surface covers ca. 3.4 km2. Pollen analyses date this surface into the late Allerød. Due to a possible contamination by younger carbon, radiocarbon dates are too young. OSL dates indicate that the covering by aeolian sands most probably occurred during the Younger Dryas. Botanical analyses enables the reconstruction of a vegetation pattern typical for the late Allerød. Large wooden remains of pine and birch were recorded.

Calibrated Radiocarbon Dating at Keatley Creek: The Chronology of Occupation at a Complex Hunter-Gatherer Village

2003 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 719-735 ◽  
Author(s):  
William C. Prentiss ◽  
Michael Lenert ◽  
Thomas A. Foor ◽  
Nathan B. Goodale ◽  
Trinity Schlegel
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Climatic Warming ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Population Aggregation ◽  
Selective Environment

This paper provides an analysis of radiocarbon dates acquired during earlier and recent field seasons at the Keatley Creek site, southern British Columbia. Results indicate that early occupations predating 1900 cal. B.P. occurred, but were not likely associated with population aggregation and large housepits. The aggregated village appears to have emerged by approximately 1700 cal. B.P. and was abandoned at approximately 800 cal. B.P. A break in the occupational sequence is recognized at 1450-1350 cal. B.P. and one other short break may have occurred shortly after 1250 cal. B.P. Peak socioeconomic complexity appears to have been achieved between 1350 and 800 cal B.P. Climatic warming may have provided a selective environment favoring population aggregation and intensification during this time. The final abandonment of the Keatley Creek village appears to have been part of a regional phenomenon suggesting the possibility that climatic factors were important in this case as well.

scholarly journals Paleoclimatic Implications of Radiocarbon Dating Of Speleothems from the Cracow-Wieluń Upland, Southern Poland

Radiocarbon ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Pazdur ◽  
Mieczysław F. Pazdur ◽  
Jacek Pawlyta ◽  
Andrzej Górny ◽  
Michał Olszewski
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Study ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Karst Region ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Last Glaciation ◽  
Geological Museum ◽  
Paleoclimatic Records ◽  
Age Range

We report preliminary results of a long-term systematic study intended to gather paleoclimatic records from precisely dated speleothems. The research project is limited to speleothems deposited in caves of the Cracow-Wieluń Upland, the largest and best-explored karst region in Poland, covering ca. 2900 km2 with >1000 caves. Speleothem samples were selected from collections of the Geological Museum of the Academy of Mining and Metallurgy in Cracow. Radiocarbon dates of these samples from ca. 45–20 ka bp almost exactly coincide with age range of the Interplenivistulian. A break in speleothem formation between ca. 20 and 10 ka bp may be interpreted as a result of serious climatic deterioration associated with the maximum extent of the last glaciation. We observed differences among 14C, U/Th and AAR dating results. Changes of δ13C and δ18O in speleothems that grew between ca. 30 and 20 ka bp may be interpreted as changes of paleoclimatic conditions.

Radiocarbon dates from Fazzan, southern Libya

2002 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 9-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Mattingly ◽  
David Edwards ◽  
John Dore
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Short Paper ◽  
Important Conclusion ◽  
Historic Period ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Full List ◽  
Ams Dating ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Early Islamic

AbstractThis short paper presents a full list of the currently available radiocarbon dates from the work of Charles Daniels in the 1960s-1970s and the Fazzan Project (1997-2001). The dates can be grouped into several categories, by site or area, and demonstrate the potential of radiocarbon dating being applied to historic-period archaeology in the Sahara. This complements earlier Italian work on later prehistory. One of the most important conclusions to emerge is that the construction of castle-like buildings in Fazzan began within the Garamantian period and that some of the numerous well-preserved mudbrick fortified sites are thus rather earlier than has previously been envisaged. A second important conclusion is that the use of AMS dating can help to identify and confirm activity of the post-Garamantian and early Islamic phases, which has hitherto been elusive.

scholarly journals The Integration of Radiocarbon Dating in Archaeology

Radiocarbon ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 639-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
H T Waterbolk
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
The Other ◽  
New Method ◽  
Time Range ◽  
Traditional Methods ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Fully Integrated ◽  
Expected Time ◽  
The Past

In the past 30 years many hundreds of archaeologic samples have been dated by radiocarbon laboratories. Yet, one cannot say that 14C dating is fully integrated into archaeology. For many archaeologists, a 14C date is an outside expertise, for which they are grateful, when it provides the answer to an otherwise insoluble chronologic problem and when it falls within the expected time range. But if a 14C date contradicts other chronologic evidence, they often find the ‘solution’ inexplicable. Some archaeologists are so impressed by the new method, that they neglect the other evidence; others simply reject problematic 14C dates as archaeologically unacceptable. Frequently, excavation reports are provided with an appendix listing the relevant 14C dates with little or no discussion of their implication. It is rare, indeed, to see in archaeologic reports a careful weighing of the various types of chronologic evidence. Yet, this is precisely what the archaeologist is accustomed to do with the evidence from his traditional methods for building up a chronology: typology and stratigraphy. Why should he not be able to include radiocarbon dates in the same way in his considerations?

scholarly journals Freshwater reservoir offsets on radiocarbon-dated dog bone from the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, USA

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e7174
Author(s):  
John P. Hart ◽  
Robert S. Feranec ◽  
Timothy J. Abel ◽  
Jessica L. Vavrasek
Keyword(s):  
Native Americans ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Aquatic Organisms ◽  
Human Bone ◽  
Bone Collagen ◽  
Canis Lupus Familiaris ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Dog Bone ◽  
Freshwater Reservoir ◽  
St Lawrence River

Isotopic analysis of dog (Canis lupus familiaris) bone recovered from archaeological sites as proxies for human bone is becoming common in North America. Chronological placement of the dogs is often determined through radiocarbon dating of dog bone. The Great Lakes, their tributaries, and nearby lakes and streams were important fisheries for Native Americans prior to and after sustained European presence in the region. Carbon entering the food web in freshwater systems is often not in full isotopic equilibrium with the atmosphere, giving rise to spuriously old radiocarbon ages in fish, other aquatic organisms, and their consumers. These freshwater reservoir offsets (FROs) have been noted on human and dog bone in several areas of the world. Here we report the results of multi-tracer Bayesian dietary modeling using δ15N and δ13C values on dog bone collagen from mid-fifteenth to mid-sixteenth-century Iroquoian village sites at the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, New York, USA. Results indicate that fish was an important component of dog diets. A comparison of radiocarbon dates on dog bone with dates on deer bone or maize from the same sites indicate FROs ranging from 97 ± 24 to 220 ± 39 14Cyr with a weighted mean of 132 ± 8 14Cyr. These results suggest that dog bone should not be used for radiocarbon dating in the absence of modeling to determine fish consumption and that previously reported radiocarbon dates on human bone from the larger region are likely to have FROs given the known importance of fish in regional human diets.

Radiocarbon Dates from Bosumpra Cave, Abetifi, Ghana

1975 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 179-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew B. Smith
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Organic Material ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Analytical Description ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Moist Forest ◽  
Forest Regions ◽  
Marginal Forest ◽  
The University ◽  
University Of Ghana

In 1940 Professor Thurstan Shaw excavated a trench in the cave known as Bosumpra at Abetifi (6° 41′N:0° 44′W) on the borderline between the moist forest and the northern marginal forest (fig. 1). Bosumpra is one of the four main ‘abosom’ (lesser) gods of the Guan pantheon (Brokenshaw 1966, 156). The report (Shaw, 1944) showed that the cave was formerly inhabited by a people with a pottery-using microlithic culture and provided the first analytical description of the microlithic industries from the forest regions of West Africa. As the site was the first of its kind to be excavated, and the excavation was carried out before the advent of radiocarbon dating, there was no way of knowing what age this industry was, or how long the cave had been occupied, beyond placing it within the rubric of the so-called “Guinea Neolithic”.To attempt to clarify this problem a group of students from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Ghana and myself conducted the excavation of a small witness section (fig. 2) in the cave over New Year 1973/74 with the specific aim of collecting organic material for dating. We were fortunate in finding adequate amounts of charcoal at all levels. Two of these samples were submitted to Rikagaku Kenkyusho, Japan, for dating.

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