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Approaches to Estimating Marine Protein in Human Collagen for Radiocarbon Date Calibration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Genevieve Dewar  and
Susan Pfeiffer
Genevieve Dewar*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, 19 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S2, Canada.
Susan Pfeiffer
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa.
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

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Determining the appropriate approach to calibrating radiocarbon dates is challenging when unknown and variable fractions of the carbon sample are derived from terrestrial and marine systems. Uncalibrated dates from a large number of human skeletons from Western Cape and Southern Cape locales, South Africa (n = 187), can be used to explore alternate approaches to the marine carbon correction. The approach that estimates theoretically expected minimum and maximum values for marine carbon (“expected”) is compared to the approach that estimates observed minimum and maximum values (“observed”). Two case studies are explored, wherein skeletons interred together have non-overlapping conventional 14C ages. The case from the Western Cape is explored through carbon isotope values; the case from the Southern Cape uses nitrogen isotope values. In both cases, the approach using observed endpoints yields better date calibration results. Analysis of the large sample shows that mean values for estimated dietary % Marine, as calculated using expected and observed protocols, are significantly different. We conclude that the observed protocol is preferred, and that improved measures of the local marine reservoir (ΔR) are needed for this region.

Type
Calibration
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , 2010 , pp. 1611 - 1625
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

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