Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T08:50:25.688Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Anomalous Radiocarbon Dates from Easter Island

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Kevin Butler ,
Christine A Prior  and
John R Flenley
Kevin Butler*
Affiliation:
School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Christine A Prior
Affiliation:
Rafter Radiocarbon Laboratory, Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
John R Flenley
Affiliation:
School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The largest volcanic crater on Easter Island in the South Pacific contains a lake 1 km in diameter with large floating mats of vegetation, mainly Scirpus californicus. A core taken through a mat near the center produced anomalous dates, with older dates above younger ones. The possibility that the mat had become inverted was considered, but palynological evidence refutes this idea because it shows a progressive upward decline of forest pollen, which is well known from other swamp cores on the island. A new series of radiocarbon dates made directly on pollen concentrates was obtained. These dates also produced inconsistencies, particularly when pollen concentrate ages were compared with 14C ages on plant fragments from the same depth. This series of 14C ages seems to indicate that both old and young organic components in the sediment are deposited contiguously and that the depositional history of these cores is more complex than previously known. Previous age determinations on bulk sediments from Easter Island, which also show anomalous dates, may be too simplistic. This paper provides a warning to other researchers dating sediments from Easter Island. We suggest that sample selection and dating procedures be carefully considered for these sediments.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 46 , Issue 1: Proceedings of the 18th International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 1 of 2), Conference Editors: Nancy Beavan Athfield, Rodger J Sparks , 2004 , pp. 395 - 405
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Bahn, P, Flenley, JR. 1992. Easter Island, Earth Island. London: Thames & Hudson. 240 p.Google Scholar
Butler, K, Flenley, JR. 2001. Further pollen evidence from Easter Island. In: Stevenson, CM, Lee, G, Morin, FJ, editors. Pacific 2000: Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Easter Island and the Pacific. p 79–86.Google Scholar
Flenley, JR. 1996. Further evidence of vegetational change on Easter Island. South Pacific Study 16(2): 135–41.Google Scholar
Flenley, JR. and Bahn, P. 2003. The Enigmas of Easter Island. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 256 p.Google Scholar
Flenley, JR, King, ASM, Teller, JT, Prentice, ME, Jackson, J, Chew, C. 1991 The Late Quaternary vegetational and climatic history of Easter Island. Journal of Quaternary Science 6(2):85–115.Google Scholar
Genz, J, Hunt, TL. 2003. El Niño/Southern Oscillation and Rapa Nui prehistory. Rapa Nui Journal 17(1):7–14.Google Scholar
Hunter-Anderson, RL. 1998. Human vs climatic impacts at Rapa Nui. In: Stevenson, CM, Lee, G, Morin, FJ, editors. Easter Island in Pacific Context: South Seas Symposium. Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Easter Island and East Polynesia. Easter Island Foundation, Bearsville & Cloud Mountain Press: California. p 85–99.Google Scholar
Jowsey, PC. 1966. An improved peat sampler. New Phytologist 65:245–8.Google Scholar
McCall, G. 1993. Little Ice Age: some speculations for Rapa Nui. Rapa Nui Journal 7(4):65–70.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, F. 2001. ENSO, climate variability, and the Rapanui, Part II. Oceanography and Rapa Nui. Rapa Nui Journal 15:83–94.Google Scholar
Mieth, A, Bork, H-R. 2003. Diminution and degradation of environmental resources by prehistoric land use on Poike Peninsula, Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Rapa Nui Journal 17(1):34–41.Google Scholar
Pasquier-Cardin, A, Allard, P, Ferreira, T, Hatté, C, Coutinho, R, Fontugne, M, Jaudon, M. 1999. Magma-derived CO2 emissions recorded in 14C and 13C content of plants growing in Furnas caldera, Azores. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 92: 195–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prior, CA, Chester, PI. 2001. Precision radiocarbon dating of a Late Holocene vegetation history. In: Jones, M, Sheppard, P, editors. Australasian Connections and New Directions: Proceedings of the 7th Australasian Archaeometry Conference Auckland: University of Auckland, Research in Anthropology and Linguistics series, volume 5. p 285–94.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Polach, HA. 1977. Discussion: reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon 19(3):355–63.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Beck, JW, Burr, GS, Hughen, KA, Kromer, B, McCormac, FG, van der Plicht, J, Spurk, M. 1998. INTCAL98 radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000–0 cal BP. Radiocarbon 40(3):1041–83.Google Scholar
Vandergoes, MJ, Prior, CA. 2003. AMS dating of pollen concentrates—a methodological study of late Quaternary sediments from South Westland, New Zealand. Radiocarbon 45(3):479–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar