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A New Radiocarbon Pretreatment Method for Molluscan Shell Using Density Fractionation of Carbonates in Bromoform

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Christopher M Russo ,
Jennifer A Tripp ,
Katerina Douka  and
Thomas F G Higham
Christopher M Russo
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, University of Scranton, 800 Linden St., Scranton, Pennsylvania 18510, USA
Jennifer A Tripp*
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, University of Scranton, 800 Linden St., Scranton, Pennsylvania 18510, USA San Francisco State University, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, California 94132, USA
Katerina Douka
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, RLAHA, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY, United Kingdom
Thomas F G Higham
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, RLAHA, Dyson Perrins Building, South Parks Road, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY, United Kingdom
*
Corresponding author. Email: tripp@sfsu.edu
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Abstract

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Coastal archaeological sites that lack organic remains for radiocarbon dating are often abundant sources of molluscan shells. As a substitute for materials such as bone and charcoal, shells can be analyzed with 14C dating to determine a site's age. Despite their being convenient, non-mobile archaeological artifacts, molluscan shells are plagued by several issues, including carbonate remodeling, in which aragonite in shells is converted to calcite as predicted by thermodynamics. We present here a carbonate density separation technique that addresses the issue of carbonate remodeling. Using a density fractionation with bromoform, aragonite concentrations are enriched in shells that have undergone significant remodeling. The technique has been applied to archaeological shells and has returned dates that are younger than those previously determined for the same shells.

Type
Sample Preparation
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 52 , Issue 3: 20th Int. Radiocarbon Conference Proceedings , 2010 , pp. 1301 - 1311
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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