Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T17:23:06.853Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New 14C Ages on Cellulose from Diprotodon Gut Contents: Explorations in Oxidation Chemistry and Combustion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Richard Gillespie ,
L Keith Fifield ,
Vladimir Levchenko  and
Rod Wells
Richard Gillespie*
Affiliation:
Division of Archaeology and Natural History, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
L Keith Fifield
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Physics, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
Vladimir Levchenko
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Physics, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
Rod Wells
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford Park SA 5042, Australia
*
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.

We report radiocarbon ages on cellulose isolated from the gut contents of a Diprotodon found at Lake Callabonna, South Australia. The maximum age obtained corresponds to a minimum age of >53,400 BP for this extinct giant marsupial. This is older than, and hence consistent with, the generally accepted Australian megafauna extinction window. We argue that dichromate and other strong oxidants are less selective than chlorite for lignin destruction in wood, and our results suggest that ages approaching laboratory background can be obtained using a repeated pretreatment sequence of chlorite-alkali-acid and measurement of the sometimes discarded 330°C combustion fraction.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , 2008 , pp. 75 - 81
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Baynes, A. 1999. The absolutely last remake of Beau Geste: yet another review of the Australian megafaunal radiocarbon dates. In: Baynes, A, Long, JA, editors. Papers in Vertebrate Palaeontology, Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 57:391.Google Scholar
Bird, MI, Ayliffe, LK, Fifield, LK, Turney, CSM, Cresswell, RG, Barrows, TT, David, B. 1999. Radiocarbon dating of “old” charcoal using a wet oxidation, stepped-combustion procedure. Radiocarbon 41(2):127–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chappell, J, Head, J, Magee, J. 1996. Beyond the radiocarbon limit in Australian archaeology and Quaternary research. Antiquity 70(269):543–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cullen, LE, Grierson, PF. 2005. Is cellulose extraction necessary for developing stable carbon and oxygen isotopes chronologies from Callitris glaucophylla? Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 236(3–4):206–16.Google Scholar
DeVogel, SB, Magee, JW, Manley, WF, Miller, GH. 2004. A GIS-based reconstruction of late Quaternary paleohydrology: Lake Eyre, arid central Australia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 204(1–2):1–13.Google Scholar
Fergusson, GJ, Rafter, TA. 1959. New Zealand 14C age measurements IV. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 2:208–41.Google Scholar
Gaudinski, JB, Dawson, TE, Quideau, S, Schuur, EAG, Roden, JS, Trumbore, SE, Sandquist, DR, Oh, S-W, Wasylishen, RE. 2005. Comparative analysis of cellulose preparation techniques for use with 13C, 14C, and 18O isotopic measurements. Analytical Chemistry 77(22):7212–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gillespie, R. 1990. On the use of oxidation for AMS sample pretreatment. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 52(3–4):345–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillespie, R. 1997. Burnt and unburnt carbon: dating charcoal and burnt bone from the Willandra Lakes, Australia. Radiocarbon 39(3):239–50.Google Scholar
Gillespie, R, Brook, BW. 2006. Is there a Pleistocene archaeological site at Cuddie Springs? Archaeology in Oceania 41:1–11.Google Scholar
Gillespie, R, Brook, BW, Baynes, A. 2006. Short overlap of humans and megafauna in Pleistocene Australia. Alcheringa Special Issue 1:163–85.Google Scholar
Grün, R, Wells, R, Eggins, S, Spooner, N, Aubert, M, Brown, L, Rhodes, E. Forthcoming. Electron spin resonance dating of South Australian megafauna sites. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences. Google Scholar
Hatté, C, Morvan, J, Noury, C, Paterne, M. 2001. Is classical acid-alkali-acid treatment responsible for contamination? An alternative proposition. Radiocarbon 43(2A):177–82.Google Scholar
Hogg, AG, Fifield, LK, Turney, CSM, Palmer, JG, Galbraith, R, Baillie, MGK. 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
Hoper, ST, McCormac, FG, Hogg, AG, Higham, TFG, Head, MJ. 1998. Evaluation of wood pretreatments on oak and cedar. Radiocarbon 40(1):45–50.Google Scholar
Loader, NJ, Robertson, I, Barker, AC, Switsur, VR, Waterhouse, JS. 1997. An improved technique for the batch processing of small wholewood samples to α-cellulose. Chemical Geology 136(3–4):313–7.Google Scholar
Magee, JW, Miller, GH, Spooner, NA, Questiaux, D. 2004. Continuous 150 k.y. monsoon record from Lake Eyre, Australia: insolation-forcing implications and unexpected Holocene failure. Geology 32(10):885–8.Google Scholar
Martin, PS, Sabels, BE, Shutler, D. 1961. Rampart Cave coprolite and ecology of the Shasta ground sloth. American Journal of Science 259:102–7.Google Scholar
Mead, JI, Agenbroad, LD. 1992. Isotope dating of Pleistocene dung deposits from the Colorado Plateau, Arizona and Utah. Radiocarbon 34(1):1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pigati, JS, Quade, J, Wilson, J, Jull, AJT, Lifton, NA. 2007. Development of low-background vacuum extraction and graphitization systems for 14C dating of old (40–60 ka) samples. Quaternary International 166(1):4–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, RG, Flannery, TF, Ayliffe, LA, Yoshida, H, Olley, JM, Prideaux, GJ, Laslett, GM, Baynes, A, Smith, MA, Jones, R, Smith, BL. 2001. New ages for the last Australian megafauna: continent-wide extinction about 46,000 years ago. Science 292(5523):1888–92.Google Scholar
Santos, GM, Bird, MI, Pillans, B, Fifield, LK, Alloway, BV, Chappell, J, Hausladen, PA, Arneth, A. 2001. Radiocarbon dating of wood using different pretreatment procedures: application to the chronology of Rotoehu ash, New Zealand. Radiocarbon 43(2A):239–48.Google Scholar
Stirling, EC. 1894. The recent discovery of fossil remains at Lake Callabonna, South Australia: I. Nature 50(1286):184–8.Google Scholar
Stirling, EC. 1900. Physical features of Lake Callabonna. Memoirs of the Royal Society of South Australia 1: Part II, i–xv.Google Scholar
Tedford, RH. 1973. The Diprotodons of Lake Callabonna. Australian Natural History 17:349–54.Google Scholar
Wells, RT, Tedford, RH. 1995. Sthenurus (Macropodidae: Marsupialia) from the Pleistocene of Lake Callabonna, South Australia. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 255. New York: American Museum of Natural History. 111 p.Google Scholar
Wolbach, WS, Anders, E. 1989. Elemental carbon in sediments: determination and isotopic analysis in the presence of kerogen. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 53(7):1637–47.Google Scholar