Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T13:48:22.018Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

AMS 14C Dating at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2016

E Dunbar ,
G T Cook ,
P Naysmith ,
B G Tripney  and
S Xu
E Dunbar*
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 0QF, Scotland, UK.
G T Cook
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 0QF, Scotland, UK.
P Naysmith
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 0QF, Scotland, UK.
B G Tripney
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 0QF, Scotland, UK.
S Xu
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 0QF, Scotland, UK.
*
1.Corresponding author. Email: elaine.dunbar@glasgow.ac.uk.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper describes all the major procedures adopted by the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory. This includes sample pretreatment, graphite production, accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) measurement, associated stable isotope measurements, data handling, and age calculations, but with the main emphasis being on the chemical pretreatment methods. All of the above enable the laboratory to provide a complete analytical service comprising advice on sample selection, preparation and analysis of samples, and Bayesian analysis of resulting 14C (and other) data. This applies to both our research and commercial activities. The pretreatment methods that we mainly focus on are used to remove contaminant carbon from a range of sample types or to isolate a particular chemical fraction from a sample prior to combustion/hydrolysis, graphitization, and subsequent AMS 14C measurement. The methods described are for bone (collagen extraction, with and without ultrafiltration), cremated bone, tooth enamel, charcoal, grain, carbon residues, shell, wood (including alpha-cellulose isolation), peat, sediments, textiles, fuel/biofuel, and forensic samples.

Keywords

pretreatmentgraphitizationAMS measurementstable isotope measurementquality assurance
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 9 - 23
Copyright
© 2016 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ashmore, PJ. 1999. Radiocarbon dating: avoiding errors by avoiding mixed samples. Antiquity 73(279):124–130.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bird, MI, Moyo, C, Veenendaal, EM, Lloyd, J, Frost, P. 1999. Stability of elemental carbon in a Savanna soil. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 13(4):923–932.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brock, F, Bronk Ramsey, C, Higham, T. 2007. Quality assurance of ultrafiltered bone dating. Radiocarbon 49(2):187–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brock, F, Higham, T, Bronk Ramsey, C. 2013. Comments on the use of Ezee-filters™ and ultrafilters at ORAU. Radiocarbon 55(1):211–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C, Higham, T, Bowles, A, Hedges, R. 2004. Improvements to the pretreatment of bone at Oxford. Radiocarbon 46(1):155–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, TA, Southon, JR. 1997. Corrections for contamination background in AMS 14C measurements. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 123(1–4):208–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, GT, Dunbar, E, Black, SM, Xu, S. 2006. A preliminary assessment of age at death determination using the nuclear weapons testing 14C activity of dentine and enamel. Radiocarbon 48(3):305–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, GT, Higham, TFG, Naysmith, P, Brock, F, Freeman, SPHT, Bayliss, A. 2012. Assessment of infinite-age bones from the Upper Thames Valley, UK, as 14C background standards. Radiocarbon 54(3–4):845–853.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, GT, Ainscough, LAN, Dunbar, E. 2015. Radiocarbon analysis of modern skeletal remains to determine year of birth and death—a case study. Radiocarbon 57(3):327–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, H. 1957. Isotopic standards for carbon and oxygen and correction factors for mass-spectrometric analysis of carbon dioxide. Geochemica et Cosmochimica Acta 12(1–2):133–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeNiro, MJ, Hastorf, CA. 1985. Alteration of 15N/14N and 13C/12C ratios of plant matter during the initial stages of diagenesis: studies utilising archaeological specimen from Peru. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 49(1):97–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donahue, DJ, Linick, TW, Jull, AJT. 1990. Isotope-ratio and background corrections for accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon measurements. Radiocarbon 32(2):135–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geyh, MA. 2001. Bomb radiocarbon dating of animal tissues and hair. Radiocarbon 43(2B):723–730.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harkness, DD, Harrison, AF, Bacon, PJ. 1986. The temporal distribution of ‘bomb’ 14C in a forest soil. Radiocarbon 28(2A):328–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higham, T. 2011. European Middle and Upper Palaeolithic radiocarbon dates are often older than they look: problems with previous dates and some remedies. Antiquity 85(327):235–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoper, ST, McCormac, FG, Hogg, AG, Higham, TFG, Head, MJ. 1998. Evaluation of wood pretreatments on oak and cedar. Radiocarbon 40(1):45–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hua, Q, Barbetti, M, Rakowski, AZ. 2013. Atmospheric radiocarbon for the period 1950–2010. Radiocarbon 55(4):2059–2072.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lanting, JN, Aerts-Bijma, AT, van der Plicht, J. 2001. Dating of cremated bones. Radiocarbon 43(2A):249–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longin, R. 1971. New method of collagen extraction for radiocarbon dating. Nature 230(5291):241–242.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Naysmith, P, Cook, GT, Freeman, SPHT, Scott, EM, Anderson, R, Xu, S, Dunbar, E, Muir, GKP, Dougans, A, Wilcken, K, Schnabel, C, Russell, N, Ascough, PL, Maden, C. 2010. 14C AMS at SUERC: improving QA data with the 5MV tandem AMS and 250kV SSAMS. Radiocarbon 52(2):263–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sayle, KL, Cook, GT, Ascough, PL, Hastie, HR, Einarsson, Á, McGovern, TH, Hicks, MT, Edwald, Á, Friðriksson, A. 2013. Application of 34S analysis for elucidating terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems: evidence of animal movement/husbandry practices in an early Viking community around Lake Mývatn, Iceland. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 120:531–544.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, EM, Cook, GT, Naysmith, P, Bryant, C, O’Donnell, D. 2007. A report on phase 1 of the Fifth International Radiocarbon Intercomparison (VIRI). Radiocarbon 49(2):409–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, EM, Cook, GT, Naysmith, P. 2010a. A report on phase 2 of the Fifth International Radiocarbon Intercomparison (VIRI). Radiocarbon 52(3):846–858.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, EM, Cook, GT, Naysmith, P. 2010b. The Fifth International Radiocarbon Intercomparison (VIRI): an assessment of laboratory performance in stage 3. Radiocarbon 52(3):859–865.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slota, PJ Jr, Jull, AJT, Linick, TW, Toolin, LJ. 1987. Preparation of small samples for 14C accelerator targets by catalytic reduction of CO. Radiocarbon 29(2):303–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spalding, KL, Buchholz, BA, Bergman, L-E, Druid, H, Frisén, J. 2005. Age written in teeth by nuclear tests. Nature 437(7057):333–334.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tripney, BG, Naysmith, P, Cook, GT. 2014. A new database program installed at the SUERC Radiocarbon Laboratory. Radiocarbon 56(2):567–572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vandeputte, K, Moens, L, Dams, R. 1996. Improved sealed tube combustion of organic samples to CO2 for stable isotopic analysis, radiocarbon dating and percent carbon determinations. Analytical Letters 29(15):2761–2773.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Klinken, GJ. 1999. Bone collagen quality indicators for palaeodietary and radiocarbon measurements. Journal of Archaeological Science 26(6):687–695.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Strydonck, M, Boudin, M, De Mulder, G. 2009. 14C dating of cremated bones: the issue of sample contamination. Radiocarbon 51(2):553–568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walton, A, Baxter, MS. 1968. Calibration of radiocarbon time scale. Nature 220(5166):475–476.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Xu, S, Anderson, R, Bryant, C, Cook, GT, Dougans, A, Freeman, S, Naysmith, P, Schnabel, C, Scott, EM. 2004. Capabilities of the new SUERC 5MV AMS Facility for 14C dating. Radiocarbon 46(1):59–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar