Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wg55d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-15T04:55:28.019Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Radiocarbon Dating of Bones at the LARA Laboratory in Bern, Switzerland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2016

Sönke Szidat ,
Edith Vogel ,
Regula Gubler  and
Sandra Lösch
Sönke Szidat*
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (DCB), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Edith Vogel
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (DCB), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Regula Gubler
Affiliation:
Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern (ADB), Bern, Switzerland
Sandra Lösch
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Anthropology, Institute of Forensic Medicine (IRM), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
*
*Corresponding author. Email: szidat@dcb.unibe.ch.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Laboratory for the Analysis of Radiocarbon with AMS (LARA) was established at the University of Bern in 2013. Since then, the quality of sample preparation and radiocarbon measurement procedures have been validated for different materials such as plant remains, macrofossils, bulk sediment, charcoals, and wood. This article presents the optimization of sample pretreatment of bones based on protocols described in the literature. The extraction of collagen was performed with an acid-base-acid treatment, gelatinization, coarse filtration, lyophilization, and graphitization. Dating results were validated as satisfactory for the Holocene by investigation of 36 individual samples previously dated by other 14C laboratories including VIRI/SIRI materials and from well-known archaeological contexts. An additional blank contribution for bone treatment was determined by comparison with the preparation of other sample materials. The cases of two outliers from the Holocene were studied in detail.

Keywords

bonechemical analysispretreatment14C AMS dating
Type
Chemical Pretreatment Approaches
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 59 , Special Issue 3: Proceedings of the 22nd International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 2 of 2) , June 2017 , pp. 831 - 842
Copyright
© 2016 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Selected Papers from the 2015 Radiocarbon Conference, Dakar, Senegal, 16–20 November 2015

References

REFERENCES

Ambrose, SH. 1990. Preparation and characterization of bone and tooth collagen for isotopic analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science 17(4):431–451.Google Scholar
Beaumont, W, Beverly, R, Southon, J, Taylor, RE. 2010. Bone preparation at the KCCAMS laboratory. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 268(7–8):906–909.Google Scholar
Brock, F, Higham, T, Ditchfield, P, Bronk Ramsey, C. 2010. Current pretreatment methods for AMS radiocarbon dating at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU). Radiocarbon 52(1):103–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brock, F, Wood, R, Higham, TFG, Ditchfield, P, Bayliss, A, Bronk Ramsey, C. 2012. Reliability of nitrogen content (%N) and carbon:nitrogen atomic ratios (C:N) as indicators of collagen preservation suitable for radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon 54(3–4):879–886.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brock, F, Higham, T, Bronk Ramsey, C. 2013. Comments on the use of Ezee-FiltersTM and ultrafilters at ORAU. Radiocarbon 55(1):211–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, MJ, Nielsen-Marsh, CM, Hiller, J, Smith, CI, Roberts, JP, Prigodich, RV, Wess, TJ, Csapò, J, Millard, AR, Turner-Walker, G. 2002. The survival of organic matter in bone: a review. Archaeometry 44(3):383–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fülöp, R-H, Heinze, S, John, S, Rethemeyer, J. 2013. Ultrafiltration of bone samples is neither the problem nor the solution. Radiocarbon 55(2–3):491–500.Google Scholar
Hajdas, I, Cristi, C, Bonani, G, Maurer, M. 2014. Textiles and radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon 56(2):637–643.Google Scholar
Hedges, REM, van Klinken, GJ. 1992. A review of current approaches in the pretreatment of bone for radiocarbon dating by AMS. Radiocarbon 34(3):279–291.Google Scholar
Horie, V. 2010. Materials for Conservation: Organic Consolidants, Adhesives and Coatings. 2nd edition. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.Google Scholar
Moghaddam, N, Müller, F, Hafner, A, Lösch, S. 2016. Social stratigraphy in Late Iron Age Switzerland: stable carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotope analysis of human remains from Münsingen. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 8:149–160.Google Scholar
Philippsen, B. 2013. The freshwater reservoir effect in radiocarbon dating. Heritage Science 1:24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Haflidason, H, Hajdas, I, Hatté, C, Heaton, TJ, Hoffmann, DL, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, Manning, SW, Niu, M, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Scott, EM, Southon, JR, Staff, RA, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):1869–1887.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, EM, Cook, GT, Naysmith, P. 2010. A report on phase 2 of the Fifth International Radiocarbon Intercomparison (VIRI). Radiocarbon 52(2–3):846–858.Google Scholar
Scott, EM, Cook, GT, Naysmith, P. 2014. SIRI, an initial report. http://www.radiocarbon.org/Graphics/SIRIsummary.pdf.Google Scholar
Synal, H-A, Stocker, M, Suter, M. 2007. MICADAS: a new compact radiocarbon AMS system. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 259(1):7–13.Google Scholar
Szidat, S, Salazar, G, Vogel, E, Battaglia, M, Wacker, L, Synal, H-A, Türler, A. 2014. 14C analysis and sample preparation at the new Bern Laboratory for the Analysis of Radiocarbon with AMS (LARA). Radiocarbon 56(2):561–566.Google Scholar
van Klinken, GJ. 1999. Bone collagen quality indicators for palaeodietary and radiocarbon measurements. Journal of Archaeological Science 26(6):687–695.Google Scholar
Wacker, L, Němec, M, Bourquin, J. 2010. A revolutionary graphitization system: fully automated, compact and simple. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 268(7–8):931–934.Google Scholar