How 14C dates on wood charcoal increase precision when dating colonization: The examples of Iceland and Polynesia
Archaeological chronologies use many radiocarbon (14C) dates, some of which may be misleading. Strict ‘chronometric hygiene’ protocols, which aim to enhance the overall accuracy and precision of 14C datasets by removing all potentially problematic samples, mean that so few dates remain in some locat...
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ftanucanberra:oai:openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au:1885/196907 2024-01-14T10:07:39+01:00 How 14C dates on wood charcoal increase precision when dating colonization: The examples of Iceland and Polynesia Schmid, Magdalena Dugmore, Andrew J. Foresta, Luca Newton, A. Vésteinsson, Orri Wood, Rachel application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1885/196907 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2018.07.015 https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/196907/5/01_Schmid_How_14C_dates_on_wood_charcoal_2018.pdf.jpg en_AU eng Elsevier 1871-1014 http://hdl.handle.net/1885/196907 doi:10.1016/j.quageo.2018.07.015 https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/196907/5/01_Schmid_How_14C_dates_on_wood_charcoal_2018.pdf.jpg © 2018 Elsevier B.V. Quaternary Geochronology Island archaeology Chronometric hygiene 14C samples with inbuilt age Bayesian Outlier models Tephrochronology OxCal_parser Journal article ftanucanberra https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2018.07.015 2023-12-15T09:38:47Z Archaeological chronologies use many radiocarbon (14C) dates, some of which may be misleading. Strict ‘chronometric hygiene’ protocols, which aim to enhance the overall accuracy and precision of 14C datasets by removing all potentially problematic samples, mean that so few dates remain in some locations that accurate chronologies cannot be established. 14C dates on charcoal can be affected by an ‘old-wood’ effect, and so they are often removed from analyses, despite >40,000 being available worldwide, representing > $25 million. We show that when a Bayesian chronological model is used, which incorporates an Outlier Model specific to wood charcoal, the 14C dataset of Iceland's Viking Age settlement agrees well with ice core-dated tephrochronology and written sources. Greatest accuracy comes from an even temporal distribution of 14C dates and more dates lead to greater precision (<20 years). This shows how charcoal-based 14C chronologies can pinpoint the transformational human settlement of islands in the Atlantic, Oceania, and elsewhere. This project was funded by the Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannís 121153-0061), Watanabe Trust fund and National Science Foundation (USA, NSF 1202692 and NSF 1249313). Article in Journal/Newspaper ice core Iceland Australian National University: ANU Digital Collections Quaternary Geochronology 48 64 71 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Australian National University: ANU Digital Collections |
op_collection_id |
ftanucanberra |
language |
English |
topic |
Island archaeology Chronometric hygiene 14C samples with inbuilt age Bayesian Outlier models Tephrochronology OxCal_parser |
spellingShingle |
Island archaeology Chronometric hygiene 14C samples with inbuilt age Bayesian Outlier models Tephrochronology OxCal_parser Schmid, Magdalena Dugmore, Andrew J. Foresta, Luca Newton, A. Vésteinsson, Orri Wood, Rachel How 14C dates on wood charcoal increase precision when dating colonization: The examples of Iceland and Polynesia |
topic_facet |
Island archaeology Chronometric hygiene 14C samples with inbuilt age Bayesian Outlier models Tephrochronology OxCal_parser |
description |
Archaeological chronologies use many radiocarbon (14C) dates, some of which may be misleading. Strict ‘chronometric hygiene’ protocols, which aim to enhance the overall accuracy and precision of 14C datasets by removing all potentially problematic samples, mean that so few dates remain in some locations that accurate chronologies cannot be established. 14C dates on charcoal can be affected by an ‘old-wood’ effect, and so they are often removed from analyses, despite >40,000 being available worldwide, representing > $25 million. We show that when a Bayesian chronological model is used, which incorporates an Outlier Model specific to wood charcoal, the 14C dataset of Iceland's Viking Age settlement agrees well with ice core-dated tephrochronology and written sources. Greatest accuracy comes from an even temporal distribution of 14C dates and more dates lead to greater precision (<20 years). This shows how charcoal-based 14C chronologies can pinpoint the transformational human settlement of islands in the Atlantic, Oceania, and elsewhere. This project was funded by the Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannís 121153-0061), Watanabe Trust fund and National Science Foundation (USA, NSF 1202692 and NSF 1249313). |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Schmid, Magdalena Dugmore, Andrew J. Foresta, Luca Newton, A. Vésteinsson, Orri Wood, Rachel |
author_facet |
Schmid, Magdalena Dugmore, Andrew J. Foresta, Luca Newton, A. Vésteinsson, Orri Wood, Rachel |
author_sort |
Schmid, Magdalena |
title |
How 14C dates on wood charcoal increase precision when dating colonization: The examples of Iceland and Polynesia |
title_short |
How 14C dates on wood charcoal increase precision when dating colonization: The examples of Iceland and Polynesia |
title_full |
How 14C dates on wood charcoal increase precision when dating colonization: The examples of Iceland and Polynesia |
title_fullStr |
How 14C dates on wood charcoal increase precision when dating colonization: The examples of Iceland and Polynesia |
title_full_unstemmed |
How 14C dates on wood charcoal increase precision when dating colonization: The examples of Iceland and Polynesia |
title_sort |
how 14c dates on wood charcoal increase precision when dating colonization: the examples of iceland and polynesia |
publisher |
Elsevier |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1885/196907 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2018.07.015 https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/196907/5/01_Schmid_How_14C_dates_on_wood_charcoal_2018.pdf.jpg |
genre |
ice core Iceland |
genre_facet |
ice core Iceland |
op_source |
Quaternary Geochronology |
op_relation |
1871-1014 http://hdl.handle.net/1885/196907 doi:10.1016/j.quageo.2018.07.015 https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/196907/5/01_Schmid_How_14C_dates_on_wood_charcoal_2018.pdf.jpg |
op_rights |
© 2018 Elsevier B.V. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2018.07.015 |
container_title |
Quaternary Geochronology |
container_volume |
48 |
container_start_page |
64 |
op_container_end_page |
71 |
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1788062050747940864 |