Grotta della Monaca is a karstic cave in Calabria (southern Italy) that plays an important role in reconstructing the oldest strategies for the acquisition of mineral resources in the Mediterranean. In fact, systematic archaeological excavations carried out by the University of Bari allowed the identification of intense prehistoric mining activities aimed at the exploitation of iron and copper ores. Archaeological evidence suggests different phases of frequentation of the cave spanning from the Upper Paleolithic, Neolithic, Copper and Bronze ages up to the Middle Ages. In order to establish an absolute timeframe for the different phases, a radiocarbon dating campaign was carried out and the results presented in this paper.

The Artemis accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facility is dedicated to high-precision radiocarbon measurements. It routinely measures over 4500 samples a year for French laboratories. This paper is a status report, showing the measurements of standard, blank, and FIRI intercomparison samples. Since 2008, research and development programs have been established by the Artemis team. During the collaborations with other research laboratories, intercomparisons on archaeological samples were performed and are listed here to show the quality of the Artemis measurements. Three areas of specific research and development are investigated: technical development, beam optic simulations, and specific archaeological studies. The technical developments of the facility are based on the setup of a new bench for water sample preparation and routine microsample preparation and measurement. Beam optic simulations are carried out to control the quality of the measurement related to the tuning of the facility. International collaborations are always in progress. In 2012, the programs include improving the accuracy of reigns for the dynastic Egypt period and the 14C dating of ancient iron.

This paper presents the results of cross-dating of mammoth remains from northwestern Chukotka, northeastern Siberia. Our results suggest that several dates obtained by the radiocarbon laboratory at the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk (laboratory code SOAN) appear to be too recent. Cross-dating in different laboratories revealed significant differences in the ages obtained compared to SOAN. This highlights the need to critically assess 14C dates, and where necessary, confirm results in independent laboratories.

The Bronze Age site of ķivutkalns with its massive amount of archaeological artifacts and human remains is considered the largest bronze-working center in Latvia. The site is a unique combination of cemetery and hillfort believed to be built on top of each other. This work presents new radiocarbon dates on human and animal bone collagen that somewhat challenge this interpretation. Based on analyses using a Bayesian modeling framework, the present data suggest overlapping calendar year distributions for the contexts within the 1st millennium BC. The carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios indicate mainly terrestrial dietary habits of studied individuals and nuclear family remains buried in one of the graves. The older charcoal data may be subject to the old-wood effect and the results are partly limited by the limited amount of data and the 14C calibration curve plateau of the 1st millennium BC. Therefore, the ultimate conclusions on contemporaneity of the cemetery and hillfort need to wait for further analyses on the massive amounts of bone material.

We establish a high-precision radiocarbon chronology for 2 house depressions at CA-SCRI-333, a large prehistoric village on the western end of Santa Cruz Island, California, USA. SCRI-333 is a large mound composed of a shell midden with more than 50 house depressions evident across its surface. We develop a chronology of occupation and activity for 2 of these depressions (6 and 32) based on a stratified sequence of accelerator mass spectrometry 14C dates. Carbonized twig and marine shell (Mytilus californianus) samples were selected from well-defined stratigraphic sections. Analytical error for these measurements is ±20 14C yr. We use a Bayesian statistical framework to propose an age model for the deposition of 2 features that may be associated with house construction. These data indicated that the features were not contemporaneous and suggest that house construction may have been sequential during the site's occupation, a hypothesis that needs to be tested further. The methodologies used in this study have the potential to increase the chronological precision of household archaeology at SCRI-333, on the northern Channel Islands, and around the world.

A more developed and modern technology replaced the old radiocarbon measuring methods in Hungary, based on isotope separation by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and not on activity measurements. In summer 2011, the EnvironMICADAS was successfully installed in the Laboratory of HEKAL, Debrecen, Hungary. In this project, a multipurpose gas-handling system was developed for the gas ion source of EnvironMICADAS at ETH Zürich, designed for the measurement of small environmental origin samples (<50 μg carbon) with moderate precision requirements. The ultimate aim is an automated device for high sample throughput. Since its final installation and first year of operation, over 2000 graphite targets were analyzed. Long-term stability of the instrument is confirmed through measurements of the Ox-II standard and processed blank targets during the first half of 2012.

Many French museums keep in their reserves a great number of mummified human remains. Beyond any ethical or deontological issues, they constitute an important part of our archaeological and historical heritage. Their dating is often inexact and imprecise, but nevertheless this parameter is very interesting, especially if correlated or associated with other analytical or typological data, e.g. the process of mummification. The present study has been carried out in the context of a multidisciplinary scientific program on a set of Coptic mummies found at the site of Antinoe (Egypt), deposited in the Louvre Museum or sent by the state to various other French museums. To minimize the sample size, we have developed a new method for the pretreatment of hair samples before accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating. Thus, we have taken samples from ≃30 mummies, distributed in 8 museums around France, and also from different textiles or plants near or on the bodies. The results and conclusions show the importance of dating mummies in a museum context. For example, 14C dates permit the exclusion of the assumed relationship of a woman with a child. Similarly, a hair sample from the head of a mummy presents a very different 14C date from that of the hair across her chest. The results show that these hairs came from another mummy and were probably placed there intentionally by the people in charge of the collections.

The era of early urbanization in Finland coincides with large variations in the atmospheric radiocarbon concentration around the 13th–14th centuries AD. Therefore, the uncertainties of an individual 14C date are too large to support studies of this time period effectively. In this work, we have employ tree-ring wiggle-matching methodology and used Bayesian modeling of dates to account for stratigraphical a priori information within Aboa Vetus Museum, Turku, Finland. The wiggle-match method helps significantly to overcome the calibration-curve-induced challenges within 14C dating. The results of the dating model agree with the typological dates of the archaeological finds and illustrate a gradual evolution of urbanization in one of the oldest cities in Finland.

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.

In his comment, “The Patterns of Neolithization in the North Eurasian Forest Zone: A Comment on Hartz et al. (2012),” Y Kuzmin has raised a number of questions concerning the paper “Hunter-Gatherer Pottery and Charred Residue Dating: New Results on Early Ceramics in the North Eurasian Forest Zone” by Hartz et al. (2012). The following remarks aim to clarify some of these issues.

A suite of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates for the Ufa-II archaeological site in Bashkortostan, Russia, is obtained for the first time. Dating was done on charcoal samples from a sequence of cultural deposits collected during the 2011 digging season. An age-depth chronology is established using the Bayesian deposition General Outlier P_Sequence model. The oldest age for the site at the horizon immediately over the sterile ground was cal AD 137–237 (68% probability), corresponding to the beginning of site occupation. The youngest 14C date found was late 6th to early 7th century cal AD for the extensive planked boardwalks unearthed at the site. The 14C dates are in good agreement with archaeological determinations based on discovered artifacts.

A range of pretreatment methods was applied to 6 known-age historical parchments to investigate the most suitable methods for effectively removing contamination and ensuring accurate radiocarbon dates while minimizing unnecessary destruction of potentially valuable historical documents. The methods tested included an acid wash, different concentrations of acid-base-acid (ABA) pretreatments, the current routine ABA method applied at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU) that includes an additional bleach treatment, and extraction of collagen. The C:N atomic weight ratio of the untreated and pretreated parchment fractions was observed to be a useful indicator of the presence or successful removal of contaminants. The pretreatment methods that produced the most accurate 14C dates and acceptable C:N ratios were found to be ABA protocols (without bleach) and collagen extraction; solvent washes and acid pretreatments alone were not sufficient to remove all contaminants and produce reliable 14C dates. The inclusion of a base wash did not affect the 14C dates of the samples, but did favorably influence the C:N ratio of the final product.

We studied the chronology and periodization of the Pit-Grave (Yamnaya) culture at the Volga and Ural interfluve. Establishing the chronology of the Pit-Grave culture by archaeological methods is difficult due to the lack of artifacts in the burials. Therefore, we excavated 3 kurgan groups in the Orenburg region of Russia during the last decade. Eighteen kurgans of the Pit-Grave culture were studied using archaeological and paleopedological methods and radiocarbon dating. The funeral complexes studied were divided into 3 stages. A variety of carbon-containing materials from the same complexes were dated by different laboratories to increase the accuracy of the obtained dates. In addition, from the excavations of the last years some monuments of the Repino stage, the earliest period of the Pit-Grave culture, were dated using ceramics. Together with archaeological and paleopedological data, 14C dating helped to clarify and, in general, to confirm the 3-stage periodization of the Pit-Grave culture in the Volga-Ural interfluve: the early (Repino) stage, 4000–3300 BC; the advanced (classical) stage, 3300–2600 BC, which is divided into substages A and B at 3300–2900 and 2900–2600 BC, respectively; and the late (Poltavkinsky) stage, 2600–2300 BC.

Radiocarbon dating of carbonates is of increasing importance for archaeology and climate research. Like most samples, these usually require pretreatment to remove surface contamination. We studied several pretreatment techniques using snails and shells of different stages of preservation and sensitivity to dissolution during the acid step of the pretreatment. We find that simple acid treatment leads to reliable results, and is applicable especially to very fragile specimens. We also compare conversion of calcite using an elemental analyzer (EA) to the conventional acid dissolution technique.

We report variations in age of recent batches of ultrafilter humectant, and also clarify the pore size of Ezee-filters™ used at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU).

This study employs tree-ring crossdating and radiocarbon measurements to determine the precise calendar age of the Bes-Shatyr Saka necropolis (43°47′N, 81°21′E) built for wealthy tribe leaders in the Ili River Valley (Semirechiye), southern Kazakhstan. We developed a 218-yr tree-ring chronology and a highly resolved sequence of 14C from timbers of Bes-Shatyr kurgan #3. A 4-decadal-point 14C wiggle dates the Bes-Shatyr necropolis to 600 cal BC. A 47-yr range of cutting dates adjusted the kurgan date to ∼550 BC. This is the first result of high-resolution 14C dating produced for the Saka burials in the Semirechiye. The collective dating of Bes-Shatyr indicates the early appearance of the Saka necropolis in the Semirechiye eastern margins of the Saka dispersal. However, the date is a couple of centuries younger than previously suggested by single 14C dates. It is likely that the Shilbiyr sanctuary (location of the Bes-Shatyr) became a strategic and sacral place for the Saka leadership in the Semirechiye long before 550 BC. Another prominent feature of the Semirechiye burial landscape, the Issyk necropolis enclosing the Golden Warrior tomb, appeared a few centuries later according to 14C dating reported by other investigators. This study contributes to the Iron Age chronology of Inner Asia, demonstrating successful results of 14C calibration within the Hallstatt Plateau of the 14C calibration curve. It appears that the wide range of calibrated dates for the Saka occurrences in Kazakhstan (from 800 BC to AD 350) is the result of the calibration curve constraints around the middle of the 1st millennium BC.

The requirements of extracting minute amounts of organic carbon in solution with high yield and minimum background are a prerequisite for radiocarbon dating of microgram amounts of carbon. Samples for biomedical or environmental research often arrive at the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) lab as concentrates dissolved in 1 mL of water or less. We have developed a new extraction method based on photo-oxidation by ultraviolet (UV) light. The solution is transferred into UV-transparent quartz vials with a head volume of pure oxygen and UV from low-pressure mercury discharge lamps is applied. To exclude the introduction of carbon background, we avoid any additional oxidizing agents. Under these conditions, only the 185 nm line is considered effective. To characterize the yield and the background, we have investigated artificial samples prepared from different materials. The setup developed allows parallel oxidation of 9 samples within typically 2 hr, connected directly to our graphitization setup for extremely small samples. The method was applied successfully for a study on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in ice from 26 Austrian glaciers. A special advantage of the UV oxidation method in this case was that phosphoric acid could be used to remove carbonates, while its low vapor pressure prevented complete lyophilization. We see the most promising field of application in biomed research and compound-specific analysis.