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Marine Bivalve Feeding Strategies and Radiocarbon Ages in Northeast Atlantic Coastal Waters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2019

Elena Lo Giudice Cappelli  and
William E N Austin
Elena Lo Giudice Cappelli*
Affiliation:
School of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9AL, Scotland, UK
William E N Austin
Affiliation:
School of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9AL, Scotland, UK Scottish Association for Marine Science, Scottish Marine Institute, Oban, Scotland, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: elgc@st-andrews.ac.uk.
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Abstract

Marine mollusk shells have been extensively used to provide radiocarbon (14C)-based chronologies in paleoenvironmental and archaeological studies, however uncertainties in age measurements are introduced because secondary factors such as vital effects and diet may influence 14C incorporation into these shells. Deep burrowing and deposit feeding mollusks, in particular, may incorporate “old” carbon resulting in apparently older ages than their contemporary environment. In this study, we present paired 14C and stable isotope (δ13C and δ18O) measurements for nine species of known-age bivalves having different feeding strategies and collected in six localities around the NE Atlantic. We exclude potential “old” carbon contamination in these known-age mollusk shells, acquire a better understanding of local ecology and provide an improved context for the environmental interpretation of 14C ages. Our results indicate that, in the NE Atlantic, marine mollusk-derived 14C ages provide a reliable basis for environmental and archaeological investigation, independently of vital effects and differences in microhabitats, feeding strategies and sample location—all of which are apparent from stable isotopes.

Keywords

dietmolluskspaleoecologyradiocarbon
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 107 - 125
Copyright
© 2019 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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