The absolute date of the Iron Age I and IIa periods in Israel, and by inference in the Southern Levant at large, are to date among the hottest debated issues in Syro-Palestinian archaeology. As there are no pegs of absolute chronology throughout this range, conventional chronology had been established on proposed correlations of the material record with events and social phenomena as portrayed in historical and literary sources, chiefly the Hebrew Bible. With the growing impact of so-called “revisionist” notions in Biblical studies, which to various extents question the historicity of the Bible, it is imperative to try to establish a chronological framework for the Iron I–IIa range that is independent of historical and so forth considerations, inter alia in order to be able to offer an independent archaeological perspective of the biblical debate. The most obvious solution is to attempt a radiocarbon-based chronology. This paper explores the possible implications of a sequence of 22 radiometric dates obtained from a detailed Iron I–IIa stratigraphic/ceramic sequence at Tel Dor, on Israel's Mediterranean coast. To date, this is the largest such sequence from any single early Iron Age site in Israel. Having been part of the Phoenician commercial sphere in the early Iron Age, Dor offers a variegated sequence of ceramics that have a significant spatial distribution beyond Phoenicia, and thus transcend regional differences and enable correlation with the surrounding regions. By and large, the absolute dates of these ceramics by the Dor radiometric chronology are up to a century lower than those established by conventional Palestinian ceramic chronology. The ramifications of the lower Dor dates for some Phoenician, Israelite, and Cypriot early Iron Age archaeological issues are explored.

A human skeleton recovered near Kennewick, Washington, USA in 1996 has been dated to the early Holocene on the basis of multiple radiocarbon determinations, an analysis of a style of a temporally diagnostic projectile point found embedded in the ilium of the skeleton, and geological investigations of the locality where the skeleton was recovered. Based on morphological criteria, the Kennewick skeleton, which is one of the most complete early Holocene human skeletons recovered so far in the Western Hemisphere, appears to be more similar to those of modern South Asians and Europeans than to modern Native Americans or to contemporary indigenous populations of Northeast Asia.

The Mulifanua ferry berth has the distinction of being the only site in Samoa with dentate-stamped Lapita wares, and is the most easterly Lapita site in the Pacific. Two new radiocarbon determinations of material associated with Lapita pottery found at Mulifanua are presented. The accuracy of this data is evaluated according to the results of recent reassessment of pottery from the site, and current theories regarding the age of Lapita settlement in the eastern Pacific. The resulting calibrated radiocarbon ages put occupation of the Mulifanua Lapita site at around 2880–2750 cal BP (930–800 BC). This conclusion is in agreement with the pottery chronology and supports recent hypotheses of rapid Lapita settlement in the Fiji/Tonga region around 2850–2700 cal BP (900–750 BC).

At the Leibniz radiocarbon lab, art and archaeological objects, often chemically conserved and thus potentially contaminated with respect to their 14C content, are treated using a computer-controlled “Soxhlet”-type series extractor. This device uses a continuous procedure of boiling and condensation of different solvents for extraction and vacuum filtration under constant process conditions. An elutrope sequence of five solvents that dissolve most customary conservation chemicals was selected. A study of these different contaminants applied to reference wood samples with subsequent accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) measurements demonstrates that their effective removal is dependent on the use of adequate solvents. For many contaminants (e.g. wood glue, methyl cellulose, Klucel®, sugar, and polyethylene glycol), routine acid-alkali-acid (AAA) treatment already yields satisfactory results, whereas for Caparol® and beeswax a relatively “mild” treatment with acetone, methanol, water, and subsequent standard AAA extraction is sufficient. Complete removal of rubber glue, epoxy resin, and paraffin can only be accomplished with our full set of solvents. The latter procedure is also appropriate when no or only incomplete information about the type of conservation material is available. For epoxy resin the contamination appears to be enriched in the alkali residue, and the easily soluble “humic acid” fraction, even after standard AAA treatment, gives satisfactory results. Two case studies on the application of the extraction procedures are presented.

Preliminary experiments were carried out on archaeological wood to investigate methods of cellulose hydrolysis and carbohydrate monomer purification for the purpose of compound-specific radiocarbon dating. The Chelford log, a known 14C dead source of wood cellulose, was selected for study in order to investigate the levels of contamination introduced during sample purification. Two methods of hydrolysis were examined, mineral acid hydrolysis and enzyme hydrolysis using cellulase from Penicillium funiculosum. Under the conditions described, enzymolysis was far superior to acid hydrolysis in terms of the glucose monomer yield. Glucose monomer purification was accomplished using high pH anion exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection. This high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method does not require sample derivatization and the chromatography products can be collected in water. These characteristics make it potentially well suited to carbon dating applications. 14C dating of chromatographically purified glucose fractions revealed significant levels of contamination had accumulated during both protocols. Glucose contamination from the cellulase enzyme preparation was a major source of contamination within the enzymatically hydrolyzed samples. Ultrafiltration of the enzyme removed some but not all of this contamination. The contamination must be reduced 10-fold before the methodology could be viable for dating. This hydrolysis/HPLC method is also being investigated for 14C dating of other carbohydrate polymers such as chitin.

During the period between the IVth and IIIrd millennia BC, profound changes for the ancient populations inhabiting the northern region of Italy occurred. The first Indo-European migrations were altering the ethnographic characteristics and, with the production of the first copper artifacts, the Neolithic Age was drawing to an end. The most significant testimony of that dramatic period is unquestionably the Ötztal iceman. In addition, many other valuable archaeological sites, such as Alba (Cuneo, Italy), have been discovered. Although Alba produced the oldest evidence of copper objects in a Neolithic context (5380 ± 40 BP; GX-25859-AMS), more recent discoveries have underlined the importance of this archaeological site. In this paper we will report on a series of radiocarbon measurements of bone remnants which, combined with morphologic, stratigraphic, paleoanthropologic, and paleopathologic studies, have allowed us to gain new insights into the culture and chronology of the European Copper Age.

Ostrich eggshell from archaeological sites remains largely free of more recent carbon contamination and as such is suitable material for radiocarbon dating. The carbonate fraction of the shell does, however, display an initial deficit in 14C, which causes the ages to appear 180 ± 120 yr too old.

A geochronological survey of the Bengal shelf area involved results from more than 20 sediment cores dated using gamma spectrometry and the nuclides 137Cs, 228Ra, 226Ra, and 210Pb. In some cores, which contained older sediments, 32Si and 14C were determined to examine the possibility to extrapolate the obtained chronologies to century and millennial scale. Geochronological work in this region is faced with problems of cyclone-induced sediment reworking, grain-size effects on fallout nuclides, scarcity of carbonates, unknown 14C reservoir effect and sedimentation rates that are too high to obtain sediment cores long enough to establish a chronology. Despite these problems, comparison between the results of the different dating methods provided the most reliable sediment balance to date for the submarine delta of the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system and indicated that on a time scale of several centuries at least 35% of the annual sediment load is deposited.

We present prehistoric mercury accumulation rates in a dated sediment core from Lagoa da Pata, a remote lake in São Gabriel da Cachoeira, northern Amazon. The sediment samples were subdivided for mercury and radiocarbon analyses. A group of 18 samples have been prepared at ANU for 14C dating by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The dating results show a good correlation with depth in the core, down to 41,500 BP. Three distinct sections are clearly identified in the core. They consist of upper and lower organic-rich layers, separated by an inorganic layer which represents a short period of rapid accumulation around 18 ka BP. The mercury accumulation rate is found to be larger in the upper layer (18 ka to present) than in the lower one (41 ka to 25 ka), by a factor of three. The larger accumulation rate of mercury is probably associated with warmer temperatures and a higher frequency of forest fires during the Holocene.

We have developed and demonstrated a practical methodology for dating specific compounds (and octade-canoic or stearic acid—C18:0—in particular) from the lipid material surviving in archaeological cooking pots. Such compounds may be extracted from about 10 g of cooking potsherd, and, after derivatization, can be purified by gas chromatography. To obtain sufficient material for precise dating repetitive, accumulating, GC separation is necessary. Throughout the 6000-year period studied, and over a variety of site environments within England, dates on C18:0 show no apparent systematic error, but do have a greater variability than can be explained by the errors due to the separation chemistry and measurement process alone. This variability is as yet unexplained. Dates on C16:0 show greater variability and a systematic error of approximately 100-150 years too young, and it is possible that this is due to contamination from the burial environment. Further work should clarify this.

Processing and measurement of 200 biomedical samples has provided an opportunity to better understand the characteristics of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) analysis of such samples. We have utilized established procedures (Vogel 1992) and developed new methods for handling various biological samples. We have included secondary standards of known isotope ratio for all assays. A method of determining maximum precision for each unknown sample value is also reported. The presented data are an update of the ongoing radiocarbon AMS biomedical program at Purdue University.

Seasonal variations of δ13C were analyzed for two Japanese cypress trees (Chamaecyparis obtusa), one buried and one living. Both trees were different in age but sampled in areas geographically close to each other in central Japan. A buried cypress with 394 annual rings was excavated from Old Fuji mudflow, the last glacial strata of the dormant Mt. Fuji volcano. The accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon date of this glacial sample was 18,600 ± 120 BP (NUTA–4884). A living tree stem, which has 192 rings, was cut from the Izu Peninsula in 1986. In order to measure the seasonal δ13C fluctuation, the tree rings were divided equally into three earlywood and one or two latewood consecutive sections. The δ13C value within an annual ring generally increased from the first to the third or fourth sections then decreased in the last section. This pattern of the variation was similar in the glacial and modern samples. The δ13C value within an annual ring seems to be controlled by environmental factors (not plant physiological ones), since there was no isotopic shift in the seasonal δ13C variation at the earlywood-latewood boundary, which was controlled by plant physiology. The result suggests the potential to reconstruct the paleoenvironment within a year using the seasonal δ13C variation, though site-specific conditions such as soil characteristics would also affect to its fluctuation.

Advances in radiocarbon dating by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) have made it possible to date prehistoric cave paintings by sampling the pigment itself instead of relying on dates derived from miscellaneous prehistoric remains recovered in the vicinity of the paintings. The work at the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE) concentrated on prehistoric charcoal cave paintings from southern France and northern Spain. In most caves, pigment samples were collected from several paintings, and in some instances the sample size allowed for multiple independent measurements on the same figure, so that the coherence of the calculated dates could be tested. Before being dated, each specimen was subjected to a thermal treatment preceded by an acid and basic treatment of intensity commensurate with the sample size.

Nine bison drawings from three caves in the Cantabrian region of Spain—two from Covaciella, three from Altamira, and four from El Castillo—were sampled and dated. The 27 dates fell between 13,000 and 14,500 BP, allowing us to attribute the drawings to the Magdalenian period. The 24 dates for 13 drawings in the Cosquer cave indicated two distinct periods of painting activity—one around 28,000 BP and the other around 19,000 BP. The Chauvet cave paintings turned out to be the oldest recorded to date, as five dates fell between 32,000 and 31,000 BP. After discussing the sample preparation protocol in more detail, we will discuss the ages obtained and compare them with other chronological data.

The Bayesian approach to calibration of radiocarbon dates was used to wiggle-match the “floating” tree-ring chronology from a Pazyryk culture (Scythian-type complex from Sayan-Altai Mountain system, southern Siberia) burial ground in order to estimate the calendar age of its construction. Seventeen bidecadal tree-ring samples were 14C dated with high precision (±20–30 yr). The results of wiggle-matching show that the Pazyryk-type burial mounds in the southern Altai Mountains were created in the first part of 3rd century BC.

The Bronze and Iron Age cultures in Yemen have no parallels to the well dated cultures in the Syro-Palestinian region. Radiocarbon datings are therefore exceptionally important for the Yemenite archaeological excavation sites of Ma'layba and Sabir, the latter being the largest excavation site of the Sabir culture. Dating series were done in order to determine the architectural development of the sites and find time marks for the ceramic development. Sample materials were dated from the 2nd and 1st millennium before Christ. The 14C dating results allow statements about the cultural development in Ma'layba and Sabir as well as a comparison with the development of other regions in the surrounding, independent of only sparse available archaeological parallels.

Apparent marine radiocarbon ages are reported for the northern Indian Ocean region for the pre-nuclear period, based on measurements made in seven mollusk shells collected between 1930 and 1954. The conventional 14C ages of these shells range from 693 ± 44 to 434 ± 51 BP in the Arabian Sea and 511 ± 34 to 408 ± 51 BP in the Bay of Bengal. These ages correspond to mean ΔR correction values of 163 ± 30 yr for the northern Arabian Sea, 11 ± 35 yr for the eastern Bay of Bengal (Andaman Sea) and 32 ± 20 yr for the southern Bay of Bengal. Contrasting reservoir ages for these two basins are most likely due to differences in their thermocline ventilation rates.

The accelerator mass spectrometry facility at the Seoul National University (SNU-AMS) was completed in December 1998 and a report was presented at the Vienna AMS conference in September 1999. At the conference, we described the basic components of our accelerator system and reported the results of the performance test. Since then, extensive testing of the accuracy and reproducibility of the system has been carried out, and about 200 unknown samples have been measured so far. We obtained a precision of 4‰ for modern samples, and an accuracy of approximately 40 yr was demonstrated by analyzing samples that were previously dated with a conventional technique and by other AMS laboratories. We present these results here, together with detailed descriptions of our data-taking and analysis procedures.

This study describes a sample preparation technique used to isolate dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in groundwater for radiocarbon analysis using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The goal of the work is to improve our ability to determine groundwater residence times based on 14C measurements of the DOC fraction in groundwater. Water samples were collected from carbonate and volcanic rock aquifers in southern Nevada. Multiple measurements of total dissolved organic carbon (TDOC) in groundwater from one site are used to demonstrate the reproducibility of the analytical procedure. The reproducibility of the method is about one percent (1σ) for a 0.5 mg sample. The procedural blank for the same size sample contains about 1 percent modern carbon (pMC).

Initially, radiocarbon dating by bomb 14C was used to check vintages of wine and whisky and to estimate the turnover times of carbon in various biological tissues. However, this technique has never been widely used for routine dating, although it has a wide field of application in geriatric medicine and forensic investigations. Fifteen years' experience in this field has shown the potential and limits of this technique. Taking into account the decisive biological factors, such as growth and aging, a complicated picture is obtained. Recent human bones cannot be dated with a constant precision. Despite an incomplete understanding of the process of incorporation of 14C into human bones, the present dating technique is still more precise than most estimates by geriatric experts, for conventional 14C dating follows that 14C dates of bone collagen represent the years of the termination of puberty rather than those of death.

Another application is the identification of furs of illegally hunted animals on the “Red List of threatened species” of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). For court cases, the year the animals were killed must be precisely determined. Due to the long and variable turnover time of more than one year of leather hair is the best dating material for animals.