Consideration of Freshwater and Multiple Marine Reservoir Effects:Dating of Individuals with Mixed Diets from Northern Sweden

Human burials from the cemetery at the Rounala church, northern Sweden, were radiocarbon (C-14) dated to shed light on the use of the cemetery. Carbon, nitrogen and sulfur stable isotope analysis of bone collagen from 19 distinct individuals indicated that these individuals had a mixed diet consisti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Radiocarbon
Main Authors: Dury, Jack P. R., Eriksson, Gunilla, Fjellstrom, Markus, Wallerstrom, Thomas, Liden, Kerstin
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
AGE
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11370/79df88bb-65d8-4f3e-a112-df5889cae4a3
https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/79df88bb-65d8-4f3e-a112-df5889cae4a3
https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2018.78
https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/77303837/consideration_of_freshwater_and_multiple_marine_reservoir_effects_dating_of_individuals_with_mixed_diets_from_northern_sweden.pdf
Description
Summary:Human burials from the cemetery at the Rounala church, northern Sweden, were radiocarbon (C-14) dated to shed light on the use of the cemetery. Carbon, nitrogen and sulfur stable isotope analysis of bone collagen from 19 distinct individuals indicated that these individuals had a mixed diet consisting of freshwater, marine and terrestrial resources. Dietary modeling using FRUITS was employed to calculate the contributions of the different resources for each individual. These data were then used to calculate individual Delta R values, taking into account freshwater and multiple marine reservoir effects, the latter caused by Baltic and Atlantic marine dietary inputs, respectively. C-14 dating of tissues from modern freshwater fish species demonstrate a lack of a freshwater reservoir effect in the area. Two OxCal models were used to provide endpoint age estimates. The calibrated data suggest that the site's cemetery was most likely in use already from the 14th century, and perhaps until at least the late 18th century.