The freshwater reservoir effect can result in anomalously old radiocarbon ages of samples from lakes and rivers. This includes the bones of people whose subsistence was based on freshwater fish, and ...pottery in which fish was cooked. Water rich in dissolved ancient calcium carbonates, commonly known as hard water, is the most common reason for the freshwater reservoir effect. It is therefore also called hardwater effect. Although it has been known for more than 60 years, it is still less well-recognized by archaeologists than the marine reservoir effect. The aim of this study is to examine the order of magnitude and degree of variability of the freshwater reservoir effect over short and long timescales. Radiocarbon dating of recent water samples, aquatic plants, and animals, shows that age differences of up to 2000
14
C years can occur within one river. The freshwater reservoir effect has also implications for radiocarbon dating of Mesolithic pottery from inland sites of the Ertebølle culture in Northern Germany. The surprisingly old ages of the earliest pottery most probably are caused by a freshwater reservoir effect. In a sediment core from the Limfjord, northern Denmark, the impact of the freshwater reservoir effect on radiocarbon dating in an estuarine environment is examined. Here, freshwater influence causes reservoir ages to vary between 250 and 700
14
C years during the period 5400 BC - AD 700. The examples in this study show clearly that the freshwater reservoir effect can seriously corrupt radiocarbon dating at inland sites. Reservoir effects should therefore be considered whenever food remains on pottery or the bones of omnivores are radiocarbon dated - irrespective of the site’s distance to the coast.
Recent discoveries of rapid changes in the atmospheric
C concentration linked to solar particle events have spurred the construction of new radiocarbon annual calibration datasets
. With these ...datasets, radiocarbon dating becomes relevant for urban sites, which require dates at higher resolution than previous calibration datasets could offer. Here we use a single-year radiocarbon calibration curve to anchor the archaeological stratigraphy of a Viking Age trade centre in time. We present absolutely dated evidence for artefact finds charting the expansion of long-distance trade from as far away as Arctic Norway and the Middle East, which we linked to the beginning of the Viking Age at AD 790 ± 10. The methods developed here enable human interactions and cultural, climatic and environmental changes to be compared in archaeological stratigraphies worldwide.
Dating the arrival of humans in the Americas Philippsen, Bente
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
10/2023, Letnik:
382, Številka:
6666
Journal Article
Recenzirano
A debate about the age of ancient footprints continues
Dating the oldest evidence for the presence of
Homo sapiens
in the Americas is a matter of ongoing debate. One view is that the earliest such ...evidence is from 16,000 to 14,000 years ago, after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), when people would have crossed the Beringian strait from Siberia over a dry land bridge (
1
). However, controversial radiocarbon dating of seeds from a set of preserved footprints in the White Sands National Park in New Mexico, USA, indicates that humans were present in the Americas as early as 21,000 to 23,000 years ago—during the LGM (
2
). This site has already inspired a vivid discussion about dates and human migrations (
2
–
6
). On page 73 of this issue, Pigati
et al.
(
7
) present a new approach and independent data from the White Sands site that may be the most convincing evidence for pre-LGM presence of
H. sapiens
in America.
Roman metal use and related extraction activities resulted in heavy metal pollution and contamination, in particular of Pb near ancient mines and harbors, as well as producing a global atmospheric ...impact. New evidence from ancient Gerasa (Jerash), Jordan, suggests that small-scale but intense Roman, Byzantine and Umayyad period urban, artisanal, and everyday site activities contributed to substantial heavy metal contamination of the city and its hinterland wadi, even though no metal mining took place and hardly any lead water pipes were used. Distribution of heavy metal contaminants, especially Pb, observed in the urban soils and sediments within this ancient city and its hinterland wadi resulted from aeolian, fluvial, cultural and post-depositional processes. These represent the contamination pathways of an ancient city-hinterland setting and reflect long-term anthropogenic legacies at local and regional scales beginning in the Roman period. Thus, urban use and re-use of heavy metal sources should be factored into understanding historical global-scale contaminant distributions.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract The elk/moose ( Alces alces ) was an important resource for prehistoric societies. In prehistoric art, it is often depicted in connection with water. Biologists find that elk spend much time ...in water and consume considerable amounts of aquatic plants. As freshwater plants can have reservoir ages of hundreds or even thousands of years, there is a risk of a significant reservoir effect in elk bones and antler, and artifacts made of these materials. This pilot study followed several approaches to investigate the possibility of a freshwater reservoir effect in elk. I analyzed modern, historical and archaeological bones and antler from several sites across Eurasia. Skull bone and antler of the same individual were radiocarbon dated, as antler is formed in summer, when the proportion of aquatic diet is supposed to be highest. Age offsets measured in this study were zero to about 500 years. A difference between bone and antler could not be determined. The reservoir effect appears to be smaller than estimated from accounts of elk diet, even in regions where a substantial freshwater reservoir effect is expected. Therefore, the hypothesis of a large proportion of aquatic diet can be rejected for several of the individuals studied here.
On the island of Lolland, southeast Denmark, an area of almost 300 ha is currently under archaeological investigation prior to the planned construction of a tunnel between Denmark and Germany under ...the Femern belt. The area investigated in the context of the “Femern project” includes a former fjord or lagoon, which was used both as an economic resource and as background for ritual activities in the Neolithic. The wetland conditions give excellent preservation conditions for organic material. A yet unsolved issue, however, is the question of reservoir effects. The local reservoir effect needs to be known for accurate radiocarbon (14C) dating of samples with possible aquatic carbon sources, such as human bones or food residues on pottery. Therefore, this paper attempts to calculate the local reservoir effect for the study area. I will discuss the possibilities and limitations when analyzing 14C dates from a rescue excavation. When applying the estimated reservoir corrections to a hoard of jaws and other bones, an interesting change in ritual activity at ca. 4000 cal BC can be observed. Furthermore, I examined 14C dates on bulk organic sediment and will discuss their implications for building chronologies and for reconstructing the environment of the Stone Age fjord. Finally, I will discuss the pitfalls and uncertainties associated with 14C dates for sea level reconstruction.
Introduction. The steppe zone of the Volga basin is interesting in connection with the study of the Orlovskaya, Cis-Caspian, and Khvalinskaya cultures. These cultures have an important significance ...for the prehistorical archaeology of Eastern Europe. The Orlovskaya culture is characterized by the appearance of the most ancient ceramics in the region, early signs of domestication are connected with the Cis-Caspian culture but the earlier metal items were found in the Khvalinskaya culture. Together with the main features of these cultures, the important question is a determination of reliable boundaries of them. From 2007 more than 60 radiocarbon dates were obtained. The basis consisted of the materials of the Varfolomeevskaya site. The most of dates had been done on the organics from ceramics. That was under dispute. Methods and materials. During the last eight years, more than 30 radiocarbon dates were obtained on the different organic materials (charcoal, animal bones, and food charred crusts) from new open stratified sites – Algay and Oroshaemoe. This set of dates gave the possibility to develop a reliable chronological schema for the Neolithic-Eneolithic in the region under consideration. The comparison of dates on the different organic materials has been done. Results. The chronological framework of the Orlovskaya culture, the Cis-Caspian culture of transition period and the Eneolithic Khvalinskaya culture for the steppe zone of the Volga basin was determined. The place of the Orlovskaya cultural antiquities among of Neolithic cultures of neighboring regions was established. The age of transitional Neolithic-Eneolithic Cis-Caspian culture with the earliest pieces of evidence of domestication in Eastern Europe was definite. The chronological framework of the Khvalinskaya Eneolithic culture in the steppe zone was considered and made the comparison with the Cis-Caspian culture. Authors’ contribution. A.A. Vybornov is prepared the archaeological part of the article and did analysis and their interpretation of the radiocarbon dates on the Neolithic of the steppe zone of the Volga basin. F.F. Giljazov collected all dates of the Orlovskaya culture of the Algay and Oroshaemoe sites. N.S. Doga did an analysis of dates of the Cis-Caspian and Khvalinskaya cultures on these sites. M.A. Kulkova obtained the radiocarbon dates for different layers of the Algay and Oroshaemoe sites and did the correlations on the different organic materials. B. Philippsen obtained the AMS dates on charcoal, bones, charred crusts and did their correlation.
The Ertebølle culture is a late Mesolithic hunter-gatherer-fisher culture in southern Scandinavia, northern Germany and Poland. Archaeological finds as well as scientific analyses of humans and their ...artefacts indicate the great importance of aquatic resources, both marine and freshwater, to Ertebølle subsistence. In northern Germany, modern freshwater fish samples can have very high apparent radiocarbon ages (up to 3000 years). If such dramatic 'freshwater reservoir effects' also existed during the late Mesolithic, they could lead to artificially old radiocarbon dates for the bones of Ertebølle humans and domestic dogs, and for carbonised food crusts on cooking pots. Conversely, if we can demonstrate radiocarbon age 'offsets' in such samples, we can often attribute them to the exploitation of freshwater food resources. This article discusses methods of identifying freshwater resources in prehistoric pottery, including radiocarbon reservoir effects. We consider the results of radiocarbon, stable isotope and elemental analyses of food crusts on prehistoric pottery from four sites in the Alster and Trave valleys: Kayhude, Schlamersdorf, Bebensee and Seedorf.
PDF
