Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T14:42:31.817Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Testing the Use of δ2H Values for Reservoir Corrections in Radiocarbon Dating Human Bone

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2018

L G van der Sluis ,
N Ogle  and
P J Reimer
L G van der Sluis*
Affiliation:
School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom
N Ogle
Affiliation:
School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom
P J Reimer
Affiliation:
School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Consumption of marine protein in humans and animals can result in an apparent older radiocarbon (14C) age due to reservoir offsets. In order to correct for this, an estimate of the marine protein intake should be used to correct the 14C age for reservoir offsets, which is ordinarily done using δ13C or δ15N values. However, these two isotopic proxies can be influenced by a number of factors which can hamper estimation of the correct marine protein intake. A small dataset of 12 samples from the Limfjord, Denmark, ranging in age from Mesolithic to Viking Age, was used to test the use of δ2H values to quantify marine protein intake and determine the reservoir corrections. Each of the three stable isotopic values (δ2H, δ13C, δ15N) was used to estimate the percent marine protein intake, which produced three different calibrated 14C ages. The calculated percent marine protein intake differed between the use of the stable isotopic ratios with a maximum difference of 42.1% between the use of δ15N and δ13C, 23.8% between δ2H and δ13C, and 46.2% between δ2H and δ15N. In some cases the calculated percent marine protein intake changed the sample’s archaeological period, although there was generally still overlap in the archaeological periods for samples used in this study.

Keywords

calibrationhydrogenmarine reservoir effectradiocarbon AMS datingstable isotopes
Type
Regional Applications
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 60 , Special Issue 5: 2nd Radiocarbon in the Environment Conference, Debrecen, Hungary, July 3–7, 2017 Part 2 of 2 and Radiocarbon & Diet 2 International Conference Aarhus, Denmark, June 20–23, 2017 , October 2018 , pp. 1637 - 1648
Copyright
© 2018 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Selected Papers from the 2nd International Radiocarbon and Diet Conference: Aquatic Food Resources and Reservoir Effects, 20–23 June 2017, Aarhus, Denmark

References

REFERENCES

Arnay-de-la-Rosa, M, González-Reimers, E, Velasco-Vázquez, J, Romanek, CS, Noakes, JE. 2010. Paleodietary analysis of the prehistoric population of the Canary Islands inferred from stable isotopes (carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen) in bone collagen. Journal of Archaeological Science 37:1490–1501.Google Scholar
Birchall, J, O’Connell, T, Heaton, THE, Hedges, REM. 2005. Hydrogen isotope ratios in animal body protein reflect trophic level. Journal of Animal Ecology 74:877–881. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2005.00979.x.Google Scholar
Bogaard, A, Heaton, THE, Poulton, P, Merbach, I. 2007. The impact of manuring on nitrogen isotope ratios in cereals: archaeological implications for reconstruction of diet and crop management practices. Journal of Archaeological Science 34:335–343. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2006.04.009.Google Scholar
Bogaard, A, Fraser, R, Heaton, THE, Wallace, M, Vaiglova, P, Charles, M, Jones, G, Evershed, RP, Styring, AK, Andersen, NH, Arbogast, RM, Bartosiewicz, L, Gardeisen, A, Kanstrup, M, Maier, U, Marinova, E, Ninov, L, Schäfer, M, Stephan, E. 2013. Crop manuring and intensive land management by Europe’s first farmers. PNAS 110(31):12589–94. doi:10.1073/pnas.1305918110.Google Scholar
Bowen, GJ, Chesson, L, Nielson, K, Cerling, TE, Ehleringer, R. 2005. Treatment methods for the determination of δ2H and δ18O of hair keratin by continuous-flow isotope-ratio mass spectrometry. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 19:2371–8. doi:10.1002/rcm.2069.Google Scholar
Bowen, GJ, Ehleringer, JR, Chesson, LA, Thompson, AH, Podlesak, DW, Cerling, TE. 2009. Dietary and physiological controls on the hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios of hair from mid-20th century indigenous populations. American Journal of Physiological Anthropology 139:494–504. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.21008.Google Scholar
Britton, K, Müldner, G, Bell, M. 2008. Stable isotope evidence for salt-marsh grazing in the Bronze Age Severn Estuary, UK: implications for palaeodietary analysis at coastal sites, Journal of Archaeological Science 35, 2111–2118.Google Scholar
Brock, F, Higham, T, Ditchfield, P, Bronk Ramsey, C. 2010. Current pretreatment methods for AMS radiocarbon dating at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU). Radiocarbon 52(1):103–112.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C, Higham, T, Bowles, A, Hedges, R. 2004. Improvements to the pretreatment of bone at Oxford. Radiocarbon 46(1):155–163.Google Scholar
Brown, TA, Nelson, DE, Vogel, JS, Southon, JR. 1988. Improved collagen extraction by modified Longin method. Radiocarbon 30(2):171–7.Google Scholar
Choi, W-J, Ro, H-M, Hobbie, EA. 2003. Patterns of natural 15N in soils and plants from chemically and organically fertilized uplands. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 35:1493–1500.Google Scholar
Craig, OE, Ross, R, Andersen, SH, Milner, N, Bailey, GN. 2006. Focus: sulphur isotope variation in archaeological marine fauna from northern Europe. Journal of Archaeological Science 33:1642–6.Google Scholar
DeNiro, MJ, 1985. Postmortem preservation and alteration of in vivo bone collagen isotope ratios in relation to palaeodietary reconstruction. Nature 317:806–9.Google Scholar
DeNiro, MJ, Epstein, S. 1978. Influence of diet on the distribution of carbon isotopes in animals, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Atca 42:495–506.Google Scholar
DeNiro, MJ, Epstein, S, 1981. Influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Atca 45:341–351.Google Scholar
Fischer, A, Olsen, J, Richards, M, Heinemeijer, J, Sveinbjörnsdóttir, ÁE, Bennike, P. 2007. Coast-inland mobility and diet in the Danish Mesolithic and Neolithic: evidence from stable isotope values of humans and dogs. Journal of Archaeological Science 34:2125–50.Google Scholar
Fraser, RA, Bogaard, A, Heaton, T, Charles, M, Jones, G, Christensen, BT, Halstead, P, Merbach, I, Poulton, PR, Sparkes, D, Styring, AK. 2011. Manuring and stable nitrogen isotope ratios in cereals and pulses: towards a new archaeobotanical approach to the inference of land use and dietary practices. Journal of Archaeological Science 38:2790–2804.Google Scholar
Fuller, BT, Fuller, JL, Sage, NE, Harris, DA, O’Connell, TC, Hedges, REM. 2004. Nitrogen balance and delta15N: why you’re not what you eat during pregnancy. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 18:2889–96.Google Scholar
Fuller, BT, Fuller, JL, Sage, NE, Harris, DA, O’Connell, TC, Hedges, RE. 2005. Nitrogen balance and delta15N: why you’re not what you eat during nutritional stress. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 19:2497–2506.Google Scholar
Gröcke, DR, Sauer, PE, Bridault, A, Drucker, DG, Germonpré, M, Bocherens, H. 2017. Hydrogen isotopes in Quaternary mammal collagen from Europe. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 11:12–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.11.020.Google Scholar
Heaton, THE. 1987. The 15N/14N ratios of plants in South Africa and Namibia: relationship to climate and coastal/saline environments. Oecologia 74:236–246.Google Scholar
Hedges, REM. 2004. Isotopes and red herrings: comments on Milner et al. and Lidén et al. Antiquity 78: 34–37.Google Scholar
Hedges, REM, Reynard, LM. 2007. Nitrogen isotopes and the trophic level of humans in archaeology. Journal of Archaeological Science 34:1240–51.Google Scholar
Heier-Nielsen, S, Heinemeier, J, Nielsen, HL, Rud, N. 1995. Recent reservoir ages for Danish fjords and marine waters. Radiocarbon 37(3):875–882.Google Scholar
Kanstrup, M, Thomsen, IK, Andersen, AJ, Bogaard, A, Christensen, BT. 2011. Abundance of 13C and 15N in emmer, spelt and naked barley frown on differently manured soils: towards a method for identifying past manuring practices. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 25:2879–87. doi: 10.1002/rcm.5176.Google Scholar
Kanstrup, M, Holst, MK, Jensen, PM, Thomsen, IK, Christensen, BT. 2014. Searching for long-term trends in prehistoric manuring practice. δ15N analyses of charred cereal grains from the 4th to the 1st millennium BC. Journal of Archaeological Science 51:1–11.Google Scholar
Koerner, W, Dambrine, E, Dupouey, JL, Benoit, M. 1999. Delta N-15 of forest soil and understorey vegetation reflect the former agricultural land use. Oecologia 121:421–5.Google Scholar
Longin, R. 1971. New method of collagen extraction for radiocarbon dating. Nature 230:241–22.Google Scholar
Meier-Augenstein, W, Chartrand, MMG, Kemp, HF, St-Jean, G. 2011. An inter-laboratory comparative study into sample preparation for both reproducible and repeatable forensic 2H isotope analysis of humna hair by continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 25:3331–8. doi: 10.1002/rcm.5235.Google Scholar
Meier-Augenstein, W, Hobson, KA, Wassenaar, LI. 2013. Critique: measuring hydrogen stable isotope abundance of proteins to infer origins of wildlife, food and people. Bioanalysis 5:751–767.Google Scholar
Mekota, AM, Grupe, G, Ufer, S, Cuntz, U. 2006. Serial analysis of stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes in hair: monitoring starvation and recovery phases of patients suffering from anorexia nervosa. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 20:1604–10.Google Scholar
Nelson, DM, Braham, M, Miller, TA, Duerr, AE, Cooper, J, Lanzone, M, Lemaître, J, Katzner, T. 2015. Stable hydrogen isotopes identify leapfrog migration, degree of connectivity ad summer distribution of Golden Eagles in eastern North America. Condor 117:414–429.Google Scholar
Olsson, IU. 1980. Content of 14C in marine mammals from Northern Europe. Radiocarbon 22(3):662–675.Google Scholar
Philippsen, B, Olsen, J, Lewis, JP, Rasmussen, P, Ryves, DB, Knudsen, KL. 2013. Mid- to late-Holocene reservoir-age variability and isotope-based palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in the Limfjord, Denmark. The Holocene 23(7):1017–27. doi:10.1177/0959683613479681. Google Scholar
Peters, JM, Wolf, N, Stricker, CA, Collier, TR, Martinez, del Rio, C. 2012. Effects of trophic level and metamorphosis of hydrogen isotopes in plant-herbivore system. PLoS ONE 7(3):e32744. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0032744 Google Scholar
Qi, H, Gröning, M, Coplen, TB, Buck, B, Mroczkowski, SJ, Brand, W, Geilmann, H, Gehre, M. 2010. Novel silver-tubing method for quantitative introduction of water into high-temperature conversion systems for stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopic measurements. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 24:1821–7. doi:10.1002/rcm.4559.Google Scholar
Ramsey, CB, Higham, T, Bowles, A, Hedges, R. 2004. Improvements to the pretreatment of bone at Oxford. Radiocarbon 46(1):155–163.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Baillie, MGL, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Bertrand, CJH, Blackwell, PG, Buck, CE, Burr, GS, Cut- ler, KB, Damon, PE, Edwards, RL, Fairbanks, RG, Friedrich, M, Guilderson, TP, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kromer, B, McCormac, G, Manning, S, Bronk Ramsey, C, Reimer, RW, Remmele, S, Southon, JR, Stuiver, M, Talamo, S, Taylor, FW, van der Plicht, , J, Weyhenmeyer, CE. 2004. IntCal04 terrestrial radiocarbon age calibration, 0–26 cal kyr BP. Radiocarbon 46(3):1029–58.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Warren Beck, J, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Buck, CE, Cheng, H, Lawrence Edwards, R, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Haflidason, H, Hajdas, I, Hatté, C, Heaton, TJ, Hoffmann, DL, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Felix Kaiser, K, Kromer, B, Manning, SW, Niu, M, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Marian Scott, E, Southon, JR, Staff, RA, CSM, Turney, van der Plicht, J. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 Radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(1):1869–87.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Hoper, ST, McDonald, J, Reimer, RW, Svyatko, S, Thompson, MM. 2015. Laboratory protocols used for AMS radiocarbon dating at the 14CHRONO Centre. English Heritage Research Report Series 5-2015 Swindon, 11.Google Scholar
Reynard, LM, Hedges, REM. 2008. Stable hydrogen isotopes of bone collagen in palaeodietary and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Journal of Archaeological Science 35:1934–42. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2007.12.004.Google Scholar
Schoeller, DA. 1999. Isotope fractionation: Why aren’t we what we eat? Journal of Archaeological Science 26:667–673.Google Scholar
Sharp, ZD, Atudorei, V, Panarello, HO, Fernández, J, Douthitt, C. 2003. Hydrogen isotope systematics of hair: archaeological and forensic applications. Journal of Archaeological Science 30: 1709–16.Google Scholar
Szpak, P. 2014. Complexities of nitrogen isotope biogeochemistry in plant-soil systems: implications for the study of ancient agricultural and animal management practices. Frontiers in Plant Science 5: 288.Google Scholar
Topalov, K, Schimmelmann, A, Polly, PD, Sauer, PE, Lowry, M. 2013. Environmental, trophic, and ecological factors influencing bone collagen δ2H. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 111:88–104. http://dx.doi.org/10.10 16/j.gca.2012.11 .017.Google Scholar
van Klinken, GJ. 1999. Bone collagen quality indicators for palaeodietary and radiocarbon measurements. Journal of Archaeological Science 26:687–695.Google Scholar
van der Sluis, LG, Hollund, HI, Kars, H, Sandvik, PU, Denham, SD. 2016. A palaeodietary investigation of a multi-period churchyard in Stavanger, Norway, using stable isotope analysis (C, N, H, S) on bone collagen. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 9:120–133.Google Scholar
van der Sluis, LG. 2017. Investigating palaeodietary changes from the Mesolithic to the Viking Age in the Limfjord area in northern Denmark [PhD thesis]. Queen’s University Belfast.Google Scholar