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Adoption and Evaluation of a sample Pretreatment Protocol for Radiocarbon Dating of Cremated Bones at HEKAL

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2018

István Major ,
János Dani ,
Viktória Kiss ,
Eszter Melis ,
Róbert Patay ,
Géza Szabó ,
Katalin Hubay ,
Marianna Túri ,
István Futó  and
Róbert Huszánk
...Show all authors
István Major*
Affiliation:
Isotope Climatology and Environmental Research Centre (ICER), Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA ATOMKI), Bem Square 18/c, H-4026 Debrecen, Hungary
János Dani
Affiliation:
Déri Museum, Déri Square 1, H-4026 Debrecen, Hungary
Viktória Kiss
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Tóth Kálmán Street 4, H-1097 Budapest, Hungary
Eszter Melis
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Tóth Kálmán Street 4, H-1097 Budapest, Hungary
Róbert Patay
Affiliation:
Ferenczy Museum, Main Square 2-5, H-2000 Szentendre, Hungary
Géza Szabó
Affiliation:
Wosinsky Mór Museum, Szent István Square 26, H-7100 Szekszárd, Hungary
Katalin Hubay
Affiliation:
Isotope Climatology and Environmental Research Centre (ICER), Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA ATOMKI), Bem Square 18/c, H-4026 Debrecen, Hungary
Marianna Túri
Affiliation:
Isotope Climatology and Environmental Research Centre (ICER), Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA ATOMKI), Bem Square 18/c, H-4026 Debrecen, Hungary
István Futó
Affiliation:
Isotope Climatology and Environmental Research Centre (ICER), Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA ATOMKI), Bem Square 18/c, H-4026 Debrecen, Hungary
Róbert Huszánk
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA ATOMKI), Bem Square 18/c, H-4026 Debrecen, Hungary
A J Timothy Jull
Affiliation:
Isotope Climatology and Environmental Research Centre (ICER), Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA ATOMKI), Bem Square 18/c, H-4026 Debrecen, Hungary Department of Geosciences, University of ArizonaAMS Laboratory, 1118 E. Fourth St., Tucson, AZ 85721USA
Mihály Molnár
Affiliation:
Isotope Climatology and Environmental Research Centre (ICER), Institute for Nuclear Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA ATOMKI), Bem Square 18/c, H-4026 Debrecen, Hungary
*
*Corresponding author. Email: imajor@atomki.mta.hu.
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Abstract

A comparative study was undertaken to adopt and evaluate a radiocarbon (14C) preparation procedure for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) measurements of cremated bones at our laboratory, including different types of archaeological samples (cremated bone, bone, charcoal, charred grain). All 14C analyses were performed using the EnvironMICADAS AMS instrument at the Hertelendi Laboratory of Environmental Studies (HEKAL) and the ancillary analyses were also performed at the Institute for Nuclear Research (ATOMKI). After the physical and chemical cleaning of cremated bones, CO2 was extracted by acid hydrolysis followed by sealed-tube graphitization and 14C measurement. The supplementary δ13C measurements were also performed on CO2 gas while FTIR was measured on the powder fraction. Based on the FTIR and 14C analyses, our chemical pretreatment protocol was successful in removing contamination from the samples. Good reproducibility was obtained for the 0.2–0.3 mm fraction of blind-tested cremated samples and a maximum age difference of only 150 yr was found for the remaining case studies. This confirms the reliability of our procedure for 14C dating of cremated bones. However, in one case study, the age difference of 300 yr between two cremated fragments originating from the same urn shows that other processes affecting the cremated samples in the post-burial environment can substantially influence the 14C age, so caution must be exercised.

Keywords

cremated boneFTIRpreparationradiocarbon datingstable isotope
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 61 , Issue 1 , February 2019 , pp. 159 - 171
Copyright
© 2018 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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