Radiocarbon Dating of Mortars and Charcoals from Novae Bath Complex: Sequential Dissolution of Historical and Experimental Mortar Samples with Pozzolanic Admixture

Radiocarbon ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 579-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danuta Michalska ◽  
Małgorzata Mrozek-Wysocka
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Orthophosphoric Acid ◽  
Sample Pretreatment ◽  
Relative Chronology ◽  
Pozzolanic Materials ◽  
New Guidelines ◽  
Pozzolanic Additives ◽  
Leaching Reaction

ABSTRACTCarbonaceous mortars from Novae (Bulgaria) contain local loess, crushed bricks and ceramic dust (pozzolanic materials). The reaction between lime and pozzolanic additives occurs easily and affects the rate and course of leaching reaction of carbonates in orthophosphoric acid during the sample pretreatment for dating. The composition of the Bulgarian mortars does not allow for unambiguous conclusions about chronology, but together with the observations of experimental mortars, gives new guidelines in terms of pozzolanic mortar application for dating. The presented research illustrates the possible reasons of difficulties with obtaining the appropriate portion of gas for radiocarbon (14C) measurement. To verify the relative chronology of legionary baths complex in Novae, the charcoals samples were also dated in addition to the mortar.

scholarly journals Bratislava Radiocarbon Measurements II

Radiocarbon ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-391
Author(s):  
S Usačev ◽  
J Chrapan ◽  
J Oravec ◽  
B Sitár
Keyword(s):  
Oxalic Acid ◽  
Proportional Counter ◽  
Half Life ◽  
Nuclear Physics ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Sample Pretreatment ◽  
Active Volume ◽  
Statistical Errors ◽  
Sample Count

Radiocarbon dating facilities were built at the Department of Nuclear Physics, Comenius University in 1967 (Usačev et al, 1973). Initially, sample pretreatment and combustion systems for a proportional counter filled with CO2 were installed (Chrapan, 1966). One group adopted methods based on the use of methane (Usačev et al, 1973), a second group continued radiocarbon dating using an Oeschger-type proportional counter filled with CO2 (Chrapan, 1968). Later a modified Oeschger-type proportional counter with 1L active volume and with a background of approximately 8.10–2 bq was built (Schmidt and Chrapan, 1970). The pressure used in this counter is 105 Pa. 0.95 NBS oxalic acid is used as a standard of the present biosphere and the year 1950 refers to the zero year. Calculated radiocarbon ages are based on a 5568 ± 30 year half-life as recommended by the 8th International Radiocarbon Dating Conference. Statistical errors are calculated as a combination of the 3σ standard deviations of the sample count and the background. Samples were treated by HCl, NaOH or other chemicals according to their initial conditions.

scholarly journals 14C Dating of Carbonate Mortars from Polish and Israeli Sites

Radiocarbon ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 857-866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danuta Nawrocka ◽  
Justyna Czernik ◽  
Tomasz Goslar
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Size Fraction ◽  
Acid Leaching ◽  
Building Construction ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Preliminary Processing ◽  
Small Scales ◽  
Quartz Aggregates ◽  
Leaching Reaction ◽  
Good Agreement

The presented research involves the analysis and radiocarbon dating of 2 different groups of carbonate mortars, from Kraków, Poland and Hippos, Israel. Differences in composition of the mortars are reflected in different rates of their acid leaching. The Israeli mortars contain carbonate-basaltic aggregates, which may cause overestimation of 14C age. Preliminary processing of these samples (choice of selected grain-size fraction and collection of CO2 released during the first phase of the acid-leaching reaction), enabled us to obtain good agreement between the 14C dates and the age derived from historical contexts. A similar method of preliminary processing was applied to the carbonate mortars of the Medieval building in Kraków. The Polish samples represent carbonate mortars with some admixture of quartz aggregates, suggesting that they would be an ideal material for 14C dating. However, these samples contained white lumps of carbonates, the structure of which differed from that of the binder. These admixtures, possibly related to the hydrological conditions at the site and to the character of the ingredients, appeared modern, and if not removed prior to acid leaching, they could cause underestimation of the age of samples. The 14C dates of the mortars from the walls of the Small Scales building in Kraków are the first obtained for this object, and their sequence does not contradict archaeological indications on several phases of the building construction.

The Ishkinino Bronze Age Mining Complex in the Southern Urals: Radiocarbon Dating

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-47
Author(s):  
V. V. Tkachev
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Southern Urals ◽  
Buried Soils ◽  
The Southern Urals ◽  
Mine Dumps ◽  
Relative Chronology ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Stratigraphic Sequences

This article presents the results of radiocarbon dating of buried soils beneath the dumps of ancient mines in the Ishkinino cobalt and copper pyrite deposit area, in the Southern Urals. The conserved upper horizons of stratigraphic sequences underlying the dumps of four mines were subjected to radiocarbon analysis. For comparison, samples from Bronze Age sites in the same area were used. Chronological ranges of the Yamnaya, Sintashta, and Kozhumberdy cultures were evaluated. Calibrated intervals of the buried soils from the Ishkinino mines show a good agreement with respective intervals relating to human and animal bones from nearby Bronze Age cemeteries and settlements. The early stage of the mines (2200–1840 BC) correlates with the Sintashta culture. Most geological and archaeological features at Ishkinino date to 1780–1130 BC, same as the Kozhumberdy settlement and cemeteries, representing the Alakul tradition. As the results suggest, radiocarbon dating of buried soils underlying the mine dumps is relevant to absolute and relative chronology of ancient mining, especially when archaeological contexts are of little help.

scholarly journals AMS Radiocarbon Dating of Paleolithic-Aged Charcoal from Europe and the Mediterranean Rim Using ABOx-SC

Radiocarbon ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 839-846 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Brock ◽  
T F G Higham
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Failure Rate ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Sample Pretreatment ◽  
Combustion Method ◽  
High Failure Rate ◽  
Acid Base ◽  
Ams Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
The Mediterranean

Radiocarbon dating of charcoal >25–30 kyr can be problematic due to contamination from exogeneous carbon and the variable effectiveness of 14C pretreatments to remove it. Bird et al. (1999) developed the ABOx-SC (acid-base-oxidation-stepped combustion) method for removing contaminants from older charcoal samples, which involves a harsher treatment than traditional acid-base-acid (ABA) pretreatments. This method has been shown to considerably improve the reliability of dating old charcoal from sites in Australia, South Africa, Brazil, and Malaysia (Bird et al. 1999, 2003; Turney et al. 2001; Santos et al. 2003; Higham et al. 2009a). Here, we apply the technique to material from 5 Paleolithic sites from Europe and the Mediterranean Rim. For 2 of the sites (Kebara Cave, Israel and Taramsa Hill, Egypt), the ABOx-SC and ABA methods produced similar dates. However, in the case of 1 site, the Grotta di Fumane in Italy, ABOx-SC pretreatment produced significantly older results from those of ABA methods, requiring substantial reinterpretation of the archaeological sequence of the site. The rigorous nature of the technique resulted in a high failure rate for sample pretreatment, and insufficient material survived the pretreatment for dating from Grotte des Pigeons, Morocco or Gorham's Cave, Gibraltar.

scholarly journals Illinois State Geological Survey Radiocarbon Dates IV

Radiocarbon ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis D. Coleman
Keyword(s):  
Sample Preparation ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Liquid Scintillation ◽  
Sample Pretreatment ◽  
Geological Survey ◽  
Preparation Procedure ◽  
Synthesis System ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Sample Preparation Procedure ◽  
Scintillation Method

This date list includes all samples processed from December 1970 through November 1971 at the Illinois State Geological Survey Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory. The benzene liquid scintillation method of Noakes, Kim, and Stipp (1965), and Noakes, Kim, and Akers (1967) was used. A new benzene synthesis system has been completed, and several changes in the sample preparation procedure have been made since the last date list report (Coleman, 1972). A brief summary of the benzene synthesis and sample pretreatment techniques used to determine the dates reported here follows.

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 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 Contradictions in the Relative Chronology: Archaeological and Radiocarbon Dating

Radiocarbon ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 695-710
Author(s):  
Werner E Stöckli
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Mean Value ◽  
Horizontal Distribution ◽  
Early Bronze Age ◽  
Data Series ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Relative Chronology ◽  
Experimental Errors ◽  
The Mean

When comparing dendrodates and radiocarbon dates, I advocate using the mean value for archaeologically defined data series, as in the usual case, the correct dating is always more precise than the calibrated areas. However, in the extreme gradient of the calibration curve, we must consider the errors. Based on the Corded Ware from the Tauber basin, I put forward a first example in which a contradiction between the archaeological and 14C dating occurs. If one cleanly separates the older measurements from Köln and the younger ones from Heidelberg, the contradiction towards the archaeological dating is canceled out when only the younger Heidelberg dates are taken into account. Regarding the Early Bronze Age, I shall first deal with the cemetery at Singen and will show, using the typology and the horizontal distribution of the graves, how outliers can be identified, thus narrowing the range for dating of the cemetery. The comparison of 2 archaeologically contemporaneous cemeteries in the Neckar basin (Rottenburg and Gäufelden) again results in contradictions between the archaeological and 14C dating. In this case, the contradictions cannot be solved without any new dating measurements. It is recommended that these should be carried out by at least 2 laboratories. Finally, some recommendations are given to archaeologists. In my opinion, 14C dates that are archaeologically unsuitable should be used to check the findings and the archaeological-typological classification. The contradictions should be reported immediately to the 14C laboratory, so that any possible experimental errors can be identified.

scholarly journals Removal of Contaminants from Oracle Bones During Sample Pretreatment

Radiocarbon ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sixun Yuan ◽  
Xiaohong Wu ◽  
Kexin Liu ◽  
Zhiyu Guo ◽  
Xiaolin Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Solvents ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Sample Pretreatment ◽  
Shang Dynasty ◽  
Royal Family ◽  
Purification Method ◽  
Chemical Reagents ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Removal Of Contaminants ◽  
Oracle Bones

Animal bones and tortoise shells were used for divination by the Chinese royal family during the Shang Dynasty (∼16th–11th century BC), and the divination results were recorded as inscriptions on oracle bones and shells, which are very valuable cultural remains and record many important events in the Shang Dynasty period. Thus, radiocarbon dating of oracle bones was used to build a precise chronology of the late Shang Dynasty. Due to their original burial conditions and the fact that in subsequent decades the pieces were traded or archived in museums, oracle bones are expected to be contaminated with exogenous materials from the environment and the conservation process. During dating, we found that some samples were contaminated by conservation chemical reagents. The contaminated samples were purified by removing exogenous chemicals with a series of organic solvents, in a method modified from Bruhn et al. (2001). Both whole bone and gelatin samples were processed with this purification method, resulting in satisfactory improvements in dating results.

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.

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