Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T15:49:57.886Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Wood Pretreatment Protocols and Measurement of Tree-Ring Standards at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Richard A Staff*
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU), Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art (RLAHA), University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford 0X1 3QY, UK
Linda Reynard
Affiliation:
Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Fiona Brock
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU), Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art (RLAHA), University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford 0X1 3QY, UK
Christopher Bronk Ramsey
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU), Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art (RLAHA), University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, Oxford 0X1 3QY, UK
*
2. Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].

Abstract

This article presents the pretreatment protocols for wood samples processed at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU), including recent implementation of a purification method to α-cellulose for non-routine samples. We examine the long-term reproducibility of measurement on wood samples at ORAU through the >1000 14C determinations made on known-age tree-ring standards processed in each AMS wheel since our present High Voltage Engineering Europa (HVEE) AMS system came on-line in September 2002. A discussion of background measurements is also provided.

Type
Methodology: Tree Rings and Plants
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 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.)

References

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):103–12.Google Scholar
Brock, F, Higham, T, Bronk Ramsey, C. 2013. Comments on the use of Ezee-filters™ and ultrafilters at ORAU. Radiocarbon 55(1):211–2.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C, Higham, T, Leach, P. 2004. Towards high-precision AMS: progress and limitations. Radiocarbon 46(1):1724.Google Scholar
Hogg, AG, Fifield, LK, Turney, CSM, Palmer, JG, Galbraith, R, Baillie, MGL. 2006. Dating ancient wood by high-sensitivity liquid scintillation counting and accelerator mass spectrometry — pushing the boundaries. Quaternary Geochronology 1(4):241–8.Google Scholar
Hogg, A, Turney, C, Palmer, J, Southon, J, Kromer, B, Bronk Ramsey, C, Noronha, A, Staff, RA, Fenwick, P, Boswijk, G, Friedrich, M, Reynard, L, Guetter, D, Wacker, L, Jones, R. 2013. The New Zealand Kauri (Agathis australis) Research Project: a radiocarbon dating intercomparison of Younger Dryas wood and implications for IntCal13. Radiocarbon 55(4):2035–48.Google Scholar
Scott, EM, editor. 2003. Radiocarbon 45(2), special issue.Google Scholar
Southon, JR, Magana, AL. 2010. A comparison of cellulose extraction and ABA pretreatment methods for AMS 14C dating of ancient wood. Radiocarbon 52(3):1371–9.Google Scholar
Wood, RE, Bronk Ramsey, C, Higham, TFG. 2010. Refining background corrections for radiocarbon dating of bone collagen at ORAU. Radiocarbon 52(2):600–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar