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Problems of dating human bones from the Iron Gates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

G.T. Cook,
C. Bonsall,
R.E.M. Hedges,
K. McSweeney,
V. Boroneant,
L. Bartosiewicz and
P.B. Pettitt
G.T. Cook
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, East Kilbride G75 0QF, Scotland.
C. Bonsall
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH1 1LT, Scotland.
R.E.M. Hedges
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology & the History of Art, Oxford OX1 3QJ, England.
K. McSweeney
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH1 1LT, Scotland.
V. Boroneant
Affiliation:
Municipal Museum of History and Art, Bucharest, Romania.
L. Bartosiewicz
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeological Sciences, Loránd Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary.
P.B. Pettitt
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology & the History of Art, Oxford OX1 3QJ, England.
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Extract

It is widely recognized that when marine resources form a significant proportion of the human diet, this results in radiocarbon ages for human remains that are significantly older than the contemporary atmosphere. While there has been widespread assessment of marine 14C reservoir ages, there has been little study of the freshwater equivalent. However, recent analyses of human bone from archaeological sites in the Danube Valley have confirmed the existence of a large freshwater 14C reservoir effect.

Keywords

radiocarbon datingreservoir effecthuman bonesIron Gatesdietstable isotopesMesolithicLepenski VirSchela CladoveiVlasac

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Papers
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Antiquity , Volume 76 , Issue 291 , March 2002, pp. 77 - 85
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2002

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