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A Context-Appropriate Approach to Marine 14C Calibration: Δr and Bayesian Framework for the Nuvuk Cemetery, Point Barrow, Alaska

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2019

Anthony M Krus Open the ORCID record for Anthony M Krus [Opens in a new window] ,
Anne M Jensen ,
W Derek Hamilton Open the ORCID record for W Derek Hamilton [Opens in a new window]  and
Kerry Sayle
Anthony M Krus*
Affiliation:
University of Glasgow, SUERC, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride, Scotland, United Kingdom Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, USA
Anne M Jensen
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA
W Derek Hamilton
Affiliation:
University of Glasgow, SUERC, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride, Scotland, United Kingdom
Kerry Sayle
Affiliation:
University of Glasgow, SUERC, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride, Scotland, United Kingdom
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

This study provides an assessment of the temporal changes in ΔR, which is the local deviation from the global surface water marine reservoir effect (MRE), in the Point Barrow area of the Alaskan Arctic, a coastal archaeological area that has experienced severe erosion accelerated by global warming. A total of 26 samples were submitted for radiocarbon (14C) dating from eight secure Thule (AD 1000–1750) archaeological contexts, and specifically from archaeological features with paired processed seal and caribou bones that had been frozen in situ. This new approach towards ΔR estimation provides a best-fit local correction for the 14C dating of human populations by focusing on the marine mammal (seals) predominantly consumed by the Thule (Coltrain et al. 2016). The weighted-mean ΔR value on these pairs is 450 ± 84 yr, which is about 50 years less than the weighted-mean (506 ± 69 yr) for the Point Barrow area calculated through 14C measurements from four known-age bivalves collected in AD 1913 (McNeely et al. 2006). The effects of using this new ΔR value for calibration was assessed through the Bayesian chronological modeling of 54 14C measurements from samples of human skeletons interred in the Nuvuk cemetery at Point Barrow, the largest ancient cemetery in northwest Alaska and traditionally thought to date to the Thule and earlier Birnirk (AD 500–1000) periods.

Keywords

Bayesian modelingBirnirk period14C calibrationchronologymarine reservoir effectNuvukPoint BarrowAlaskaThule period
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 61 , Issue 3 , June 2019 , pp. 733 - 747
Copyright
© 2019 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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