C14 dates reported below were obtained mainly at the end of 1968 and during 1969 on archaeologic and geologic samples. Techniques of measurement used are unchanged. Since 1968, 4 complete routine sets have been running, each equipped with a 1 L CO2 proportional counter. One is made of stainless steel with a background of 2.70 cpm at pressure 1 atm and the others are of OFHC copper with a background of either 1.10 or 1.30 cpm for a corresponding pressure of, respectively, 1 or 2 atm. For age calculation, 95% activity of NBS oxalic acid is used as the modern standard and the value of 5570 ± 30 years is used for the half-life of C14. Dates are expressed in years b.p. (before a.d. 1950).

With Fe powder as a catalyst, CO2 is completely converted to graphite within 90 minutes. The reaction proceeds at 650°C with an excess of H2. The reaction rate is enlarged by forced circulation and by keeping the water vapor pressure very low. The graphite samples obtained, consisting of 5mg of carbon, almost immediately produce stable 12C− currents of the order of 20–30μA in the sputter source of a Van de Graaff accelerator. The currents can be maintained for at least 10 hours and are comparable to those from commercial graphite. No memory effects in the preparation system have been observed.

Both the 2-L counter, described in GSC I, and the 5-L counter (GSC IV) were operated routinely during the past year. Approximately one-half of the determinations reported here were obtained from each counter. The 5-L counter was operated mainly at 1 atm.

For more than a year, age calculations have been carried out monthly by an I.B.M. 1620 computer. If the background, standard, and sample counts during a month conform to statistical laws, they are entered on sheets together with their respective counting times and sample identifications and sent to the computing center for processing.

Archaeological investigations in the Republic of Palau, Micronesia, have produced 409 radiocarbon age determinations from cultural contexts, indicating a range of Palauan occupation from about 3000 yr ago into the modern era. However, these dates are scattered among numerous sources (many difficult to obtain) and are presented in a number of different formats and calibrations. The goal of this paper is to compile a usable, systematic database of all of these Palauan cultural 14C assays. This database will be suitable for developing and evaluating chronological models, an effort being undertaken as a separate paper. Prior to constructing prehistoric colonization and cultural chronologies for Palau, the validity of each assay and the relative adequacy in sample size per cultural and environmental zones must be examined. After systematic recalibration, the reliability of the dates is evaluated in light of sample material, cultural context, and site formation processes. A method for dating monumental earthwork complexes through site formation analysis is presented. Sets of 237 valid and 58 potentially valid 14C dates remain to develop chronological models. The representation of Palau's environmental zones, site types, and regions within the dating pool is examined and compared to ensure meaningfulness in these chronological models. Newly obtained 14C age determinations are also provided.

When and where the process of state formation took place in the biblical kingdom of Judah is heavily debated. Our regional project in the southwestern part of Judah, carried out from 2007 to the present, includes the excavation of three Iron Age sites: Khirbet Qeiyafa, Tel Lachish, and Khirbet al-Ra’i. New cultural horizons and new fortification systems have been uncovered, and these discoveries have been dated by 59 radiometric determinations. The controversial question of when the kingdom was able to build a fortified city at Lachish, its foremost center after Jerusalem, is now resolved thanks to the excavation of a previously unknown city wall, dated by radiocarbon (14C) to the second half of the 10th century BCE.

Current calibration methods for single and replicate 14C dates are compared. Various forms of tabular and graphic output are discussed. Results from all the methods show reasonable agreement but further methodological development and improvements in computer output are required. Comparison of existing techniques for a series of non-contemporaneous dates showed less agreement amongst participants on this issue. We recommend that calibrated dates should be presented as a combination of graphs and ranges, in preference to mean and standard deviation.

Differences in the radiocarbon ages of closely associated marine mollusk shells and terrestrial material (charred wood or bones) from several Galician archaeological contexts are significant from the Iron Age to Medieval times. δR values show high variability, ranging from −280 ± 70 to 270 ± 40 14C yr. The set of δR values also presents a strong positive peak (δR = 270 ± 40 14C yr) at 860 ± 90 BP, which matches another peak found for western Portuguese coastal waters. The data obtained, namely the negative or close to zero δR values, suggest that the reduced offset between atmospheric and surface water 14C content is due to the existence of a strong stratification of the water column and environmental factors in the Galician rías during the Iron Age and the Medieval period.

Radiocarbon dates largely obtained from bulk soil samples in 24 soil profiles in the Teotihuacán Valley, Mexico, are reported insofar as they represent a first step towards developing a sequence of soil formation, erosion, vegetation change, and human impact during the Holocene. Limitations of 14C dating in the area are considered, particularly the absence of charcoal in sediments and poor preservation of pollen. A broad temporal scheme is proposed to guide future research in which 4 periods are defined: ∼5000–2000 BP (relative stability with short, intermittent episodes of erosion); ∼2000–1500 BP (erosion-sedimentation, deforestation, and intensive agriculture); ∼1500–1000 BP (relative stability, depopulation, and partial recovery of the landscape); and ∼1000–500 BP (erosion-sedimentation, deforestation, and intensive agriculture).

The following list comprises a selected number of measurements made up to October, 1967. Age calculations are based on 95% of the activity of the NBS oxalic-acid standard, and on a half-life for C14 of 5570 yr. Results are reported in yr before 1950, and in the A.D./B.C. scale.

Errors quoted include standard deviations of the count rates for the unknown sample, contemporary value, and background. Because possible errors arising from isotopic fractionation in the plants, or from the de Vries effect, have not been included, calculated errors smaller than 100 yr have been increased by rounding to that figure as a minimum.

Sample descriptions have been prepared in collaboration with collectors and submitters.

The following list of dates, measured since the publication of Yale IV, includes a few repetitions of published dates, noted as such by the addition of bis to their number. One of these (Y-140 bis) was a new preparation of CO2 from a sample previously measured as acetylene; the others are rechecks of repurified CO2, repeated because instrumental difficulties plagued our laboratory throughout the year beginning in September 1958 and might have affected some dates published in Yale IV. No important differences were found, however. Several measurements of geochemical interest, on lake water and other lacustrine materials for which C13 analyses have been reported (Oana and Deevey, 1960), are not included here but will form the subject of a separate paper.

Interactions between islands, ocean currents, and winds cause large-scale eddies and upwelling in the lee of islands that can result in spatial variation in the marine radiocarbon reservoir. For waters around New Ireland and the Bismarck Sea, ΔR values ranging from 365 to −320 14C yr have been reported (Kirch 2001; Petchey et al. 2004). Petchey et al. (2004) proposed that some of this variation was caused by seasonal reversals in the South Equatorial Current and North Equatorial Counter Current system, combined with Ekman upwelling from the Equator. McGregor et al. (2008) suggested additional complexity within this region caused by a change in the reservoir value over time in response to changing climatic conditions. We present a series of 14 new and extant published ΔR and R values on historic shells, combined with 8 values from archaeological terrestrial/marine pairs and U-Th dated coral, that support observations of localized variability caused by a complex interplay between seasonal currents, riverine input, and ocean eddies. On the basis of these values and oceanographic data, we divide the Bismarck Sea surface marine 14C reservoir into 6 tentative subregions. In particular, our results support significant variation within channels at the southwest and southeast ends of New Britain and towards the equatorial boundary of the sea. Our results indicate that within the Bismarck Sea geographical variation appears to be more extreme than temporal over the last 3000 yr.

This paper presents radiocarbon results from modern South Pacific corals from the Marquesas Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea (PNG), and Easter Island. All of the measurements are from pre-bomb Porites corals that lived during the 1940s and 1950s. The data reflect subannual to multiannual surface ocean 14C variability and allow for precise, unambiguous reservoir age determinations. The results are compared with published values from other coral records throughout the South Pacific, with striking consistency. By comparisons with other published values, we identify 3 South Pacific regions with uniform pre-bomb reservoir ages (1945 to 1955). These are 1) the Central Equatorial South Pacific (361.6 − 8.2 14C yr, 2 σ); 2) the Western Equatorial South Pacific (322.1 − 8.6 14C yr, 2 σ); and 3) the subtropical Pacific (266.8 − 13.8 14C yr, 2 σ).

We examined three sets of data to determine if there are consistent changes in δ13C of C3 plants through time, under the hypothesis that environmental changes from glacial to postglacial may have caused such isotopic changes over the last 50 ka. The records of δ13C change in all types of plant data from Radiocarbon and from the University of Arizona Radiocarbon Laboratory archives both reveal significant decline of 0.8–1.0‰ in δ13C from pre- to post-10 ka BP averages. The δ13C of wood data alone from Radiocarbon shows a larger significant decline of 3.0‰, and twigs, leaves and Juniperus categories from the Arizona data individually show declines of 0.4–1.44‰. Peat and charcoal from both data sets show no significant mean δ13C differences. A highly constrained set of wood samples from the Great Lakes region spanning the last 12 ka show isotopic changes of ca. 3‰, but most of that variation apparently does not reflect global environmental changes.

If ancient carbon is incorporated into lakes and rivers, it can be transferred along the foodchain where it can cause radiocarbon dates to appear erroneously old. This effect is known as the 14C freshwater reservoir effect (FRE), and causes particular problems when dating human remains. Several studies have attempted to use carbon and/or nitrogen stable isotopes to predict the size of the FRE, with mixed success. We have examined whether the FRE at the Mesolithic-Neolithic burial ground of Minino, northwest Russia, is correlated with these stable isotope systems. To assess the size of the FRE, 9 pairs of human bone and burial goods were dated, such as spears and pendants made of herbivore bone. In addition, further human and faunal bones were analyzed for carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes. Although these stable isotopes suggest that freshwater resources dominated the protein intake of those buried at Minino, no relationship between stable isotopes and the FRE was found. Instead, we found that the FRE was relatively consistent at 490 ± 80 14C yr. With caution, this can be subtracted from burials at Minino to provide a low-resolution chronology for the burial ground. We demonstrate that it is not possible to assume that a relationship exists between stable isotopes and 14C, and each population thought to be affected by a FRE must be examined individually.

The chemical and isotopic compositions of long-chain (C36–C39) unsaturated ketones (alkenones), a unique class of algal lipids, encode surface ocean properties useful for paleoceanographic reconstruction. Recently, we have sought to extend the utility of alkenones as oceanic tracers through measurement of their radiocarbon contents. Here, we describe a method for isolation of alkenones from sediments as a compound class based on a sequence of wet chemical techniques. The steps involved, which include silica gel column chromatography, urea adduction, and silver nitrate-silica gel column chromatography, exploit various structural attributes of the alkenones. Amounts of purified alkenones estimated by GC/FID measurements were highly correlated with CO2 yields after sample combustion, indicating purities of greater than 90% for samples containing ≥ 100 μg C. The degree of alkenone unsaturation (U37K′) also varied minimally through the procedure. We also describe a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method to isolate individual alkenones for molecular-level structural and isotopic determination.

Lake sediments have the potential to preserve proxy records of past climate change. Organic material suitable for radiocarbon dating often provides age control of such proxy records. Six shallow freshwater lakes on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia were investigated for carbon reservoir effects that may influence age-depth profiles from lake sediment records in this important region. Paired samples of particulate organic matter (POM) from the water column and surface sediment (bulk organic carbon) were analyzed by accelerator mass spectrometry 14C. POM in 4 lakes was found to be in equilibrium with the atmosphere (~107% modern), whereas 2 lakes showed significant depletion of 14C. In each lake, the surface sediment ages were older than the paired POM age. Surface sediment ages showed a much greater range of ages compared to the equivalent POM ages, even for lakes located in close proximity. We conclude that sediment disturbance during coring, bioturbation, and periodic resuspension of sediments are likely factors causing the difference in the apparent age of surface sediments.

The Last Glacial–Interglacial Transition (LGIT; 15,000–11,000 cal BP) was characterized by complex spatiotemporal patterns of climate change, with numerous studies requiring accurate chronological control to decipher leads from lags in global paleoclimatic, paleoenvironmental, and archaeological records. However, close scrutiny of the few available tree-ring chronologies and radiocarbon-dated sequences composing the IntCal13 14C calibration curve indicates significant weakness in 14C calibration across key periods of the LGIT. Here, we present a decadally resolved atmospheric 14C record derived from New Zealand kauri spanning the Lateglacial from ~13,100–11,365 cal BP. Two floating kauri 14C time series, curve-matched to IntCal13, serve as a 14C backbone through the Younger Dryas. The floating Northern Hemisphere (NH) 14C data sets derived from the YD-B and Central European Lateglacial Master tree-ring series are matched against the new kauri data, forming a robust NH 14C time series to ~14,200 cal BP. Our results show that IntCal13 is questionable from ~12,200–11,900 cal BP and the ~10,400 BP 14C plateau is approximately 5 decades too short. The new kauri record and repositioned NH pine 14C series offer a refinement of the international 14C calibration curves IntCal13 and SHCal13, providing increased confidence in the correlation of global paleorecords.

The following is a list of radiocarbon dates obtained since the time of the preparation of Michigan list IV. The method of measurement and treatment of data are the same as those described in the introductions to lists III and IV.

In 2018 Pearson et al. published a new sequence of annual radiocarbon (14C) data derived from oak (Quercus sp.) trees from Northern Ireland and bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) from North America across the period 1700–1500 BC. The study indicated that the more highly resolved shape of an annually based calibration dataset could improve the accuracy of 14C calibration during this period. This finding had implications for the controversial dating of the eruption of Thera in the Eastern Mediterranean. To test for interlaboratory variation and improve the robustness of the annual dataset for calibration purposes, we have generated a replicate sequence from the same Irish oaks at ETH Zürich. These data are compatible with the Irish oak 14C dataset previously produced at the University of Arizona and are used (along with additional data) to examine inter-tree and interlaboratory variation in multiyear annual 14C time-series. The results raise questions about regional 14C offsets at different scales and demonstrate the potential of annually resolved 14C for refining subdecadal and larger scale features for calibration, solar reconstruction, and multiproxy synchronization.

The paper presents a comparison of U-series and radiocarbon dates of speleothems collected in several caves in central and southern Europe and southeast Africa. Despite a large spread of dates, mainly due to contamination with younger carbon, the group of corresponding 14C and 230Th/U ages of speleothem samples seems to be coherent with the previous suggestion of large deviation between the 14C and the absolute time scale between 35 and 45 ka BP. This agrees with the result of frequency analysis of published 14C and 230Th/U ages of speleothem.