We continue to give dates based on the half-life of 5568 years according to the decision of the Sixth Pullman Conference (Internatl. Conf., Pullman, 1965). The year 1950 has been used as a reference year for converting the dates to A.D./B.C. scale. A value corresponding to 95% net counting rate of the NBS oxalic acid has been used as the modern reference standard.

We report on a review of 14C production and release from the nuclear industry in the United Kingdom (UK). Using earlier predictions (Bush, White and Smith 1984) it is estimated that a total of 1764 TBq of 14C would have been produced in UK graphite-moderated reactors up to the end of 1995, and 135 TBq of this total would have been released. Release rates, based on reported discharges, of 5.1 and 0.93 TBq GW(e)a-1 have been derived for Magnox reactors and Advanced Gas Cooled Reactors (AGRs), respectively. Using these new figures, cumulative discharges of 14C up to 1995 from reactors have been estimated at 531 TBq. The combination of these reactor discharges and the reported discharges from Sellafield (388 TBq) and Amersham (52 TBq) suggest a total cumulative release of 971 TBq of 14C up to the end of 1995.

The recent progress in radiocarbon dating of the prehistoric cultural complexes in the Russian Far East is discussed against the background of ancient chronologies for greater East Asia. Since 1997, the wide use of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating along with the continuation of conventional dating has allowed us to establish the age of several key Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Paleometal sites. It has also contributed to advancing a deeper understanding of the timing for the beginning of pottery production, maritime adaptation, and agriculture, and several other important issues in prehistoric chronology for the studied region. Reservoir age correction values for the Japan and Okhotsk seas are now used to adjust the age for samples of marine origin. Some of the cultural-chronological models for prehistoric far eastern Russian complexes put forward in the last 10 yr lack a solid basis, and are critically evaluated herein.

Time-series radiocarbon measurements have substantial ability to constrain the size and residence time of the soil C pools commonly represented in ecosystem models. 14C remains unique in its ability to constrain the size and turnover rate of the large stabilized soil C pool with roughly decadal residence times. The Judgeford soil, near Wellington, New Zealand, provides a detailed 11-point 14C time series enabling observation of the incorporation and loss of bomb 14C in surface soil from 1959–2002. Calculations of the flow of C through the plant-soil system can be improved further by combining the known constraints of net primary productivity (NPP) and 14C-derived C turnover. We show the Biome-BGC model provides good estimates of NPP for the Judgeford site and estimates NPP from 1956–2010. Synthesis of NPP and 14C data allows parameters associated with the rapid turnover “active” soil C pool to be estimated. This step is important because it demonstrates that NPP and 14C can provide full data-based constraint of pool sizes and turnover rates for the 3 pools of soil C used in nearly all ecosystem and global C-cycle models.

Early Medieval stone building began earlier and was more widespread than previously thought. This conclusion is the result of scientific dating that challenges traditional views of the “petrification” process in architecture north of the Alps after the Roman period. Radiocarbon (14C) dating is not precise enough to answer detailed questions connected to historical contexts, but recently there have been a number of surprising dates: “Roman” city walls have now Early Medieval phases or meter-high, obscure “dark earth” strata were subdivided and dated. Results not in line with clients’ expectations can be the subject of heated debates, or worse, tend to remain unpublished. To the archaeologist, who is trying to connect scientific dates with historical events, usually is not clear, that mortar dating is a methodology still being developed, while dating organic material like charcoal from mortar is a standard procedure. But even the latter has downfalls like the possible “old-wood-effect,” if such complications are not carefully considered and avoided during the sampling process. Drawing on examples from Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and France, recent challenging results will be discussed from an archaeologist’s point of view.

We analyzed rare wooden Komainu found at Akagami Shrine in Akita prefecture, Japan. The formation of historical objects is often thoroughly recorded in documents, although the formation age of this particular Komainu sculpture is still unknown due to its antiquity. Thus, age determination exercises have been conducted using radiocarbon (14C)-wiggle-matching techniques. Although only a limited quantity was available for sampling, we have successfully measured 14C samples in the sculptures along with several sets of tree rings. We interpret the Komainu sculptures age considering the age of the trees and the result obtained from the wooden construction materials used for the Akagami shrine. The results obtained from Komainu show a range from 550 CE to 1020 CE, which is consistent with the dates of the shrine’s formation. Thus, the multiple 14C-wiggle-matching method can determine precise calendar ages of wood, as well as provide some supportive information for the periods when there are no reliable historical documents.

This date list consists of some of the samples measuredsince summer 1965. For the routine measurements thesame technique and equipment as described earlierwas used (Bern IV).

For the first time, a series of 14C dates has been obtained for samples from the archaeological excavations in Red Square, the historical center of Moscow. The remains of burned dwellings from the bottom of the cultural layer were dated as well as dispersed charcoal from the underlying plough soil. The results correspond to a 200-yr time interval and prove that arable activity at the site began as early as the late 11th century ad. The field belonged to Moscow itself or to rural settlements nearby. The oldest dwelling was built ca. the late 12th–early 13th century ad.

The present list contains dates of geologic samples from the southern part of the Karelian ASSR and partly from the northwest Leningrad Region, USSR, made in 1969-1975.

An application of radiocarbon (14C) in atmospheric chemistry is reviewed. 14C produced by cosmic neutrons immediately forms 14CO, which reacts with hydroxyl radicals (OH) to 14CO2. By this the distribution and seasonality (the lifetime of 14CO is ∼1 month) of the pivotal atmospheric oxidant OH can be established. 14CO measurement is a complex but unique application which benefitted enormously from the realization of AMS, bearing in mind that 14CO abundance is of the order of merely 10 molecules per cm3 not only provides 14CO an independent measure for the OH based self-cleansing capacity of the troposphere, but also enabled detection of 14C production due to high energy solar protons in 1989. Although its production takes place throughout the atmosphere and does not have the character of a point source, transport processes in the atmosphere affect the distribution of 14CO. Vertical mixing in the troposphere renders gradients in its production rate less critical, but considerable meridional gradients exist. One question has remained open, namely confirmation of calculated 14C production by direct measurement. A new sampling method is proposed. The conclusions are a guide to future work on 14CO in relation to OH and atmospheric transport.

The results presented in this list include some recently measured samples (1984) but mostly ones from our earlier years of operation which had not been previously published in RADIOCARBON. It is the first of a number of special lists prepared over the last year so that the backlog of unpublished dates of this laboratory will be cleared. The samples are all archaeologic from the United Kingdom most of which have originated from “rescue”-type excavations.

Recently, an article was published in this journal (Hartz et al. 2012), presenting new data on the age of early ceramics in eastern Europe (in particular, the central Russian Plain) and discussing the issues related to the appearance of pottery (i.e. Neolithization) in this region, with wider implications of the results for northern Eurasia. I was one of the reviewers of this paper, which is acknowledged by the authors. However, despite my numerous remarks and comments, many of them were not taken into account. As a result, the work by Hartz et al. (2012) suffers from several flaws; here I point them out and briefly discuss the issue of the Neolithization of Eurasia.

We used the scintillation variant of the radiocarbon method. The scintillator is prepared on the basis of ethylbenzol [benzene], synthesized from acetylene according to the method of Kuchkarev and Kondratenko (1955). For radiocarbon dating we used materials both rich in carbon: wood and charcoal, and [those] poorer: also peat, buried soils, and fossil bones. In the first instance, the initial material for synthesis was [char] coal, which was treated as follows:

A 22 m sediment core was collected from the unsaturated zone (USZ) in the dunes south of Ashdod, Israel, in a low rainfall year, following an even lower-rainfall year. The mineralogy of was quartz with some clay and carbonate. The local climate is semi-arid. The roots of the sparse vegetation can reach ~8 m. The porosity was ~40–55%. The DIC ranged from 2 to 13 mmole C/L. Large variability is noted in the soil moisture, with a maximum at the high clay region at ~8 m. Oxygen isotopes enter the USZ with rain falling on the surface. There is 18O enrichment in the top of the section due to evaporation during the summer. Below this depth δ18O values of ~ –5‰ prevail as in the local aquifer. CO2 and the carbon isotopes enter the USZ laterally by exhalation from roots. The δ13C varies from –5‰ to –23‰, representing stages in carbon isotopic fractionation: CO2gas becomes dissolved CO2aqueous which then forms carbonic acid and HCO3– . The high δ13C, Δ14C, and DIC are found at the 8 m depth. These values along with high humidity are replicated at ~22m depth. They most probably represent recharge water from the previous rainy season at 8 m depth subsequently pushed down 12.8±0.8 m during the last winter.

More than 70 logboats are known in Lithuania and about half of them date before 1800 cal AD. This paper reviews these more ancient logboats, which were discovered in the beds of former or still existing lakes and rivers and present new radiocarbon (14C) dates and wood taxa identifications. Special attention is paid to the logboat found at Šventoji 58, which is at present the oldest 14C-dated (2895–2640 cal BC) logboat found East of the Baltic Sea. Most logboats from the pre-1800s period were 14C dated to medieval and early modern periods and they were made out of pine and oak wood. From a very scarce dataset available it seems that oak wood was introduced into logboat building by Neolithic people, who also brought new technologies in stone tool production. We also noted that 14C dating does not confirm the logboat typology suggested in earlier studies.

Variability in temperature and 14C levels are recorded in coralline aragonite that grew in the Gulf Stream during the past four centuries. In particular, 18O/16O ratios reflect a decrease of ca 1°C in surface water temperature during the latter part of the Little Ice age. 14C levels also rose in the surface waters of the Gulf Stream and in atmospheric CO2 during the Maunder minimum. These observations indicate that ocean circulation may have been significantly different in the North Atlantic around the beginning of the 18th century.

The site area of Erimi-Laonin tou Porakou (Limassol, Cyprus) has been surveyed and systematically excavated since 2007 as a joint research project of the University of Florence and the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus. A focused investigation was dedicated to analyzing funerary evidence from the southern Cemetery (Area E), where 7 single-chamber graves were excavated. The offering goods assemblages from the burials point to a general date ranging from Early to Late Bronze Age I, and draw a sequence of use that is contemporary to the stratigraphic deposits from the top mound Workshop Complex (Area A). During the 2010 field season, charcoal samples from the Workshop Complex and bone samples from the skeleton remains of 2 burials (tombs 228, 230) were opportunely taken for radiocarbon analyses. 14C dating was performed at the AMS-IBA Tandetron accelerator of the INFN-LABEC Laboratory in Florence. This paper will discuss the results of the 14C analyses and compare them with the archaeological evidence in order to outline a chronological sequence for the settlement and cemetery areas at Erimi-Laonin tou Porakou, thus collecting further data on the development and pattern of occupation of the Early to Late Cypriote period in the Kourion area.

The following list of dates is compiled from samples prepared and catalogued since publication of our last date list (R, 1975, v 17, p 99-111). The counting equipment and operating procedures are the same. Ages are quoted with a 1σ counting error which includes statistical variation of the sample count as well as for background and standard, using ad 1950 as the reference year and 95% NBS oxalic acid for 14C dating as the standard. The half-life value used is 5570 years.

The following list includes some measurements made during 1978 and 1979 in the radiocarbon laboratory of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Géologie Appliquée et de Prospection Minière (ENSG) de Nancy. Equipment, measurement and treatment of samples are as reported previously (R, 1979, v 21, p 453-464) where the sample is synthesized to benzene. Radiocarbon ages are calculated using the 14C half-life of 5568 years and 95% activity of NBS oxalic acid is used as modern standard. Anthracite coal and Merck commercial benzene are used for the dead carbon run.

The Bronze and Iron Age cultures in Yemen have no parallels to the well dated cultures in the Syro-Palestinian region. Radiocarbon datings are therefore exceptionally important for the Yemenite archaeological excavation sites of Ma'layba and Sabir, the latter being the largest excavation site of the Sabir culture. Dating series were done in order to determine the architectural development of the sites and find time marks for the ceramic development. Sample materials were dated from the 2nd and 1st millennium before Christ. The 14C dating results allow statements about the cultural development in Ma'layba and Sabir as well as a comparison with the development of other regions in the surrounding, independent of only sparse available archaeological parallels.