Charcoal Concentration from Early Sites for Radiocarbon Dating

1955 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick R. Matson
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Content ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Simple Procedure ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
University Of Chicago ◽  
Rock Shelter ◽  
Experimental Field ◽  
The World ◽  
State Museum ◽  
The University

Can Flecks of charcoal in soils and hearths be concentrated into a usable sample for radiocarbon dating? It is impracticable to ship large volumes of soil with low carbon content from distant sites, yet dating them may be most important. This question was informally discussed following the Wenner-Gren Conference on African Prehistory held at the University of Chicago in February, 1953, and as a result Robert J. Braidwood proposed that an experimental field laboratory be established that summer at an excavation where water and electricity were available if needed. The Department of Anthropology of the University of Chicago and the Illinois State Museum were sponsoring the excavation of a rock shelter near Modoc, Illinois, and I was invited to conduct experiments there, trying out any technics that I wished. It was hoped that these experiments would result in establishing a simple procedure that could be used in many parts of the world for procuring radiocarbon samples.

The Journey of Piotr and Kasia Walkowiak

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Erikson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
University Of Chicago ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
The University ◽  
Migrant Stream

This chapter tells the story of peasants from rural Poland who entered a migrant stream around the turn of the twentieth century that carried them, along with tens of millions of others, across a number of clearly marked national borderlines as well as a number of unmarked cultural ones. The peasants were a couple named Piotr and Kasia Walkowiak, and the words spoken by them as well as the events recalled here are based on the hundreds of letters and diaries gathered in the 1910s by two sociologists from the University of Chicago, W. I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki. The chapter first describes the world into which Piotr and Kasia were born, focusing on family, village, and land. It then considers their journey, together with millions of other immigrants, and how they changed both the face of Europe and the face of the United States.

Radiocarbon Dating of the Organic Portion of Ceramic and Wattle-and-Daub House Construction Materials of Low Carbon Content

1968 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Taylor ◽  
Rainer Berger
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Content ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Ceramic Materials ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Ceramic Samples ◽  
House Construction ◽  
Good Agreement

AbstractRadiocarbon determinations on a series of low-carbon-content ceramic and wattle-and-daub samples were made to determine the validity of radiocarbon dates based on these types of sample materials. Good agreement between radiocarbon dates obtained from the ceramic samples and from charcoal samples stratigraphically associated with the ceramics suggests that radiocarbon dates obtained on low-carbon-content ceramic materials are reliable if appropriate precautions are observed. The confidence which can be placed on radiocarbon dates obtained on wattle-and-daub sample materials is, at present, somewhat less secure. Problems in the use of these sample materials are discussed.

People and Projects

1951 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 39-40
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Research Center ◽  
University Of Chicago ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
The World ◽  
The University ◽  
Widespread Interest ◽  
Deliberate Effort

The recent widespread interest in problems of economic development, particularly in areas of the world now marked off as "underdeveloped," has emphasized the necessity for further examining the relations between economic and cultural change. The present unorganized body of knowledge dealing with these problems seems to call for a deliberate effort at synthesis in order to arrive at general principles upon which policy and further study can be based. The Research Center in Economic Development and Cultural Change at the University of Chicago was established in an attempt to meet this need.

scholarly journals Radiocarbon Dating of Iron Artifacts at the Erlangen AMS Facility

Radiocarbon ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Scharf ◽  
Wolfgang Kretschmer ◽  
Gerhard Morgenroth ◽  
Thomas Uhl ◽  
Karin Kritzler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sample Size ◽  
Carbon Content ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Soxhlet Extraction ◽  
Ion Source ◽  
Chemical Extraction ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Iron Sample ◽  
First Results ◽  
Iron Artifacts

One problem in preparing iron for radiocarbon dating is the low carbon content which makes the sample size needed too large for some sample combustion systems. Also, the metallic character of the samples complicates sample combustion or oxidation. The Erlangen accelerator mass spectrometry group uses an elemental analyzer for the sample combustion, directly followed by a reduction facility. As the carbon content and sample size for iron samples are unsuitable for combustion in an elemental analyzer, 2 alternative approaches are to (a) avoid oxidation and reduction, or (b) extract the carbon from the iron, prior to combustion. Therefore, 2 different pathways were explored. One is direct sputtering of the unprocessed iron sample in the ion source. The other is the complete chemical extraction of carbon from the iron sample and dating of the carbonaceous residue. Also, different methods for cleaning samples and removing contamination were tested. In Erlangen, a Soxhlet extraction is employed for this purpose. Also, the sampling of the iron sample by drilling or cutting can be a source of contamination. Thus, the measurement of iron drill shavings yielded ages that were far too high. The first results for iron samples of known age from 2 archaeological sites in Germany are presented and discussed.

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