Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-21T14:09:47.632Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Foraminiferous Limestone in 14C Dating of Mortar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Tomasz Goslar*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Physics, Adam Mickiewicz University, ul. Umultowska 85, 61-614 Poznań, Poland Poznań Radiocarbon Laboratory, ul. Rubież 46, 61-612 Poznań, Poland
Danuta Nawrocka
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, Department of Dynamic and Regional Geology, Adam Mickiewicz University, ul. Maków Polnych 16, 61-606 Poznań, Poland
Justyna Czernik
Affiliation:
Poznań Radiocarbon Laboratory, ul. Rubież 46, 61-612 Poznań, Poland
*
Corresponding author. Email: goslar@radiocarbon.pl
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Mortar as a mixture of binder and aggregate can be reliably dated with radiocarbon if the applied preparation method allows one to eliminate unburnt carbonate fragments, bearing 14C-depleted carbon and causing overestimation of 14C age. To avoid these problems, separation of specific grain-size fractions of mortar and 14C analysis of the CO2 portions collected in different time intervals of the acid-leaching reaction is usually helpful. In the present paper, we demonstrate that the rate of the leaching reaction of mortars with dense carbonate aggregate differs from that of mortars with crumbled limestone and scattered shells (e.g. of foraminifera). Verification of the obtained 14C dates against historical sources shows that for mortars rich in foraminiferous limestone, a reaction rate-based chemical elimination of “dead carbon” may appear impossible.

Type
Methods and Developments
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

REFERENCES

Baxter, MS, Walton, A. 1970. Radiocarbon dating of mortars. Nature 225(5236):937–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folk, RL, Valastro, S. 1979. Dating of lime mortar by 14C. In: Berger, R, Suess, H, editors. Radiocarbon Dating. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference. Los Angeles: University of California Press. p 721–30.Google Scholar
Heinemeier, J, Jungner, H, Lindroos, A, Ringbom, Å, von Konow, T, Rud, N. 1997. AMS 14C dating of lime mortar. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 123(1–4):487–95.Google Scholar
Lindroos, A, Heinemeier, J, Ringbom, Å, Braskén, M, Sveinbjörnsdóttir, Á. 2007. Mortar dating using AMS 14C and sequential dissolution: examples from medieval, non-hydraulic lime mortars from the Åland Islands, SW Finland. Radiocarbon 49(1):4767.Google Scholar
Michalska Nawrocka, D, Michczyńska, DJ, Pazdur, A, Czernik, J. 2007. Radiocarbon chronology of the ancient settlement on the Golan Heights. Radiocarbon 49(2):625–37.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Baillie, MGL, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Bertrand, CJH, Blackwell, PG, Buck, CE, Burr, GS, Cutler, KB, Damon, PE, Edwards, RL, Fairbanks, RG, Friedrich, M, Guilderson, TP, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kromer, B, McCormac, G, Manning, S, Bronk Ramsey, C, Reimer, RW, Remmele, S, Southon, JR, Stuiver, M, Talamo, S, Taylor, FW, van der Plicht, J, Weyhenmeyer, CE. 2004. IntCal04 terrestrial radiocarbon age calibration, 0–26 cal kyr BP. Radiocarbon 46(3):1029–58.Google Scholar
Sonninen, E, Jungner, H. 2001. An improvement in preparation of mortar for radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon 43(2A):271–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar