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14C Dating of Bone Using γ-Carboxyglutamic Acid and α-Carboxyglycine (Aminomalonate)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Richard R. Burky ,
Donna L. Kirner ,
R. E. Taylor ,
P. E. Hare  and
John R. Southon
Richard R. Burky
Affiliation:
AMS Research Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside, California 92521 USA
Donna L. Kirner
Affiliation:
AMS Research Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside, California 92521 USA
R. E. Taylor
Affiliation:
AMS Research Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside, California 92521 USA Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Riverside, California 92521 USA
P. E. Hare
Affiliation:
Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC 20015 USA
John R. Southon
Affiliation:
Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551 USA
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Abstract

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Radiocarbon determinations have been obtained on γ-carboxyglutamic acid [Gla] and α-carboxyglycine (aminomalonate) [Am] as well as acid- and base-hydrolyzed total amino acids isolated from a series of fossil bones. As far as we are aware, Am has not been reported previously in fossil bone and neither Gla nor Am 14C values have been measured previously. Interest in Gla, an amino acid found in the non-collagen proteins osteocalcin and matrix Gla-protein (MGP), proceeds from the suggestion that it may be preferentially retained and more resistant to diagenetic contamination affecting 14C values in bones exhibiting low and trace amounts of collagen. Our data do not support these suggestions. The suite of bones examined showed a general tendency for total amino acid and Gla concentrations to decrease in concert. Even for bones retaining significant amounts of collagen, Gla (and Am extracts) can yield 14C values discordant with their expected age and with 14C values obtained on total amino-acid fractions isolated from the same bone sample.

Type
Part 1: Methods
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 40 , Issue 1: 16th International Radiocarbon Conference 16-20,1997 Groningen , 1997 , pp. 11 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

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