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Laboratory Intercomparison of Pleistocene Bone Radiocarbon Dating Protocols

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2017

Matthias Huels Open the ORCID record for Matthias Huels [Opens in a new window] ,
Johannes van der Plicht ,
Fiona Brock ,
Simon Matzerath  and
David Chivall
Matthias Huels*
Affiliation:
Leibniz-Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Isotope Research, Max-Eyth-Str.11-13, 24118 Kiel, Germany
Johannes van der Plicht
Affiliation:
Center for Isotope Research, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
Fiona Brock
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Oxford, United Kingdom Cranfield Forensic Institute, Cranfield University, Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, SN6 8LA, United Kingdom
Simon Matzerath
Affiliation:
LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn, Germany University of Tübingen, Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Archäologie des Mittelalters, Germany
David Chivall
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Oxford, United Kingdom
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

Since its invention in the late 1940s, radiocarbon (14C) dating has become an important tool for absolute dating. A prerequisite for the acceptance of this method is consistency between, and compatibility of, 14C dates from different laboratories. To meet these requirements, international laboratory intercomparison studies with different sample materials are frequently performed (e.g. TIRI, FIRI, VIRI and, most recently, SIRI).Intercomparison is especially relevant and difficult for samples close to the dating limit of ~50 kBP, not least for bone samples. A 14C intercomparison study between the Leibniz-Laboratory in Kiel (Germany), the Center for Isotope Research (CIO) in Groningen (the Netherlands), and the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU, United Kingdom) was performed on three Pleistocene (MIS3) mammal bone samples from the Brick Quarry site Coenen (BQC) in Germany. The comparison of individually prepared and measured bone collagen 14C activities, results from shared collagen measurements, and respective background signatures and correction points to the latter as the main factor responsible for observed differences in final given radiocarbon estimates.

Keywords

Pleistocene bone radiocarbon datinglaboratory intercomparisonbackground correction
Type
Method Development
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 59 , Special Issue 5: 8th International Symposium, Edinburgh, 27 June – 1 July, 2016 Part 1 of 2 , October 2017 , pp. 1543 - 1552
Copyright
© 2017 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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Footnotes

Selected Papers from the 8th Radiocarbon & Archaeology Symposium, Edinburgh, UK, 27 June–1 July 2016

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