Best practice methodology for 14C calibration of marine and mixed terrestrial/marine samples

There is a lack of detailed guidance in the published literature on how to calibrate 14C measurements made on marine or mixed marine/terrestrial (primarily human remains) samples. We describe what we consider to be the best approach towards achieving the most accurate calibrated age ranges, using th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Quaternary Geochronology
Main Authors: Cook, G.T., Ascough, P.L., Bonsall, C., Hamilton, W.D., Russell, N., Sayle, K.L., Scott, E.M., Bownes, J.M.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Elsevier B.V. 2015
Subjects:
Iceland
Online Access:https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/104463/
https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/104463/1/104463.pdf
Description
Summary:There is a lack of detailed guidance in the published literature on how to calibrate 14C measurements made on marine or mixed marine/terrestrial (primarily human remains) samples. We describe what we consider to be the best approach towards achieving the most accurate calibrated age ranges, using the most appropriate ΔR and percentage marine diet estimates, and associated, realistic error terms on these values. However, this approach will increase the calibrated age range(s) by fully accounting for the variability in both the model and the material. While the discussion is based on examples from the UK and Iceland, the same fundamental arguments can be applied in any geographic location largely devoid of C4 plants as the high δ13C values from such plants can make identification of marine intake difficult to determine.

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