14C Dating Of Bones Research Articles

The freshwater reservoir effect in northern West Siberia: 14C and stable isotope data for fish from the late medieval town of Mangazeya

Abstract The freshwater reservoir effect (FRE) was estimated for the northern part of West Siberia for the first time, based on securely dated samples from the late medieval town of Mangazeya existed mainly in AD 1601–1650. Twelve specimens of six species of freshwater fish were selected for 14C dating, and C and N stable isotopes analysis. The FRE varies from ca. 310 to ca. 1970 14C years, and there is no consistency in terms of relationship to feeding habits or trophic level of fish; the FRE fluctuations for Mangazeya, as well as for other regions in northern Eurasia, are noteworthy. This information should be taken into account when 14C dating of bones of humans and domestic animals, who consume significant amount of freshwater fish, is conducted. This also applies to 14C dating of food crusts on the surface of pottery.

Routine AMS Dating of Bone and Shell Proteins

14C dating of bone has been unreliable in comparison with more stable materials such as wood or charcoal. Attempts have been made to use various components or fractions isolated from the raw bone sample; these include dilute acid soluble, dilute acid insoluble, collagen, and gelatin, as well as alkali soluble and insoluble fractions of burned bone, and carbonate or apatite fractions of organic-poor bone. All of these fractions have yielded useful data in some cases, but no single method has proven suitable in all situations. The work reported here describes the isolation and purification of amino acids from the dilute acid insoluble fraction of bone collagen and parchment, with some preliminary experiments on amino acids from shell conchiolin.