On behalf of the organising committee, it is a great pleasure to welcome you all to this 14C workshop and indeed to Scotland. The organising committee has already indicated its ability by arranging sunshine for a place and time in which horizontal rain is more common. We plan to build on this initial success by having an outstanding week of good science and pleasant social activity. Scientifically, we have the opportunity firstly to look back and review previous research on the accuracy and precision of 14C dates. Then we will hear and discuss some important new results from the final stage of the present international intercomparison study. Finally, we will discuss and plan mechanisms and procedures by which, in future, we can improve our general level of performance. Paralleling this and of equal if not more importance, we have arranged a social programme which we hope will give us the opportunity to eat and drink well together, see some of the country, get to know each other better and discuss our science informally. So our hopes are high and our welcome sincere.

Radiocarbon ages determined by the AMS method on hand-picked foraminifera shells are reported. The results allow estimates of the ventilation rate of the deep Atlantic and Pacific Oceans during glacial time. They also extend our knowledge of the chronology of events associated with the transition from full glacial conditions ca 15,000 years ago to full interglacial conditions ca 8000 years ago. This and the previous lists (Broecker et al 1988c) contain all the results obtained as part of this program through the fall of 1989.

We have studied the limitations of conventional mass spectrometry and have examined accelerator based methods which could help circumvent these limitations. In particular, cyclotron-based accelerator mass spectrometric (AMS) techniques are discussed with an emphasis on evaluating performances of superconducting mini-cyclotrons designed for use as AMS instruments. We discussed the design of superconducting mini-cyclotrons dedicated to radioisotope dating research.

We present here the method we use to convert to radiocarbon ages (14C/13C) ratios measured in the Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometer facility. We describe the procedures we use to convert sample and standard isotope ratios to values appropriate for calculation of radiocarbon ages. We also discuss, in some detail, corrections to account for sample contamination.

Many interlaboratory studies have been made in the 14C community at irregular intervals over the past ten years. At times, the results from these studies have been contentious, mostly because of the lack of consistency in their findings. The importance of regular exercises has become particularly acute due to the large number of operating laboratories and the diversity of their methodologies. Hence, we briefly review the studies that have been made in the 1980s, focusing on those in which our laboratories participated. These include the 14C Interlaboratory Comparison in the UK (Otlet et al 1980), the International Comparison (ISG 1982, 1983) and the first two parts of the current International Collaborative Program (Scott et al 1989a, b). The development of each study, its findings and shortcomings, are highlighted in order to assess the concordance of the conclusions.

A theoretical approach towards predicting the carbon isotope composition of carbonate cave deposits is presented. The proposed model simulates time variations of both the chemical and isotopic composition of the carbonate solution and deposited calcite in the course of CaCO3 precipitation. Two phases of the precipitation process are distinguished and treated separately: initial outgassing of the solution until a certain degree of supersaturation of CO3 2- ions is reached and subsequent precipitation of CaCO3 related to further outgassing. Precipitation rates of CaCO3 predicted by the model agree fairly well with literature data. The model predicts δ13C values of deposited calcite within a range of ca −16 to +3‰ depending on temperature, chemical and isotope parameters of the initial solution and actual degree of the precipitation process.

The success of any intercomparison exercise depends largely on participation and cooperation of a sufficient number of laboratories and the selection of a suitable suite of samples. Unless the latter is satisfactorily devised, the former cannot be guaranteed. The hierarchical nature of this study has necessarily resulted in a far more comprehensive set of sample types than has previously been employed. The exercise was structured to satisfy the following criteria: 1) to enable the participating laboratories to assess the experimental precision and accuracy of the component stages of the dating process; 2) samples should be typical of those routinely dated by the laboratories. This takes on a particular significance in Stage 1 where they should resemble as closely as possible the counting medium; 3) an objective statistical analysis of the results at each component stage of the study.

Accelerator mass spectrometry dating of three 50g samples of marine turtle bone from the basal cultural stratum of the Tongoleleka archaeological site, Lifuka Island, Kingdom of Tonga, South Pacific yields results that agree with conventional 14C dates on marine shell. A method for calibrating these dates that takes into account the long distance migrations of marine turtles in the South Pacific is proposed. A sample size greater than 50g is recommended for routine AMS dating of marine turtle bone.

The following list of dates was obtained in a joint German-Greek project to establish a radiocarbon dating laboratory in the National Research Centre for Physical Sciences “Demokritos,” Athens, Greece.1 Although our initial aim in selecting these samples was to study laboratory procedures, we found that when the dates were arranged in stratigraphic order they provided a chronological framework for Thessalian and northern Macedonian site of the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages (Kotsakis et al 1989; Papanthimou & Papasteriou 1987a).

Systematic studies on 14C dating of tufa profiles in southern Poland have resulted in developing a simple phenomenological model which enables us to estimate the reservoir correction factor of 14C dates of individual carbonate samples. We made further studies to test model assumptions and to verify relationships between the value of reservoir correction factor TR and 13C content of tufa carbonate. Two new study sites, Rudawa and Szklarka, are close to previously studied sites. Four tufa samples with associated organic fraction from ca 2000m asl in South America (Peruvian Andes) were measured to test the possible application of the developed model to tufas in different geochemical and climatic environments. Finally, a series of calcareous tufa samples from the Villers-devant-Orval profile (Belgium) were dated, although no direct comparison with organic matter dates is available for this profile.

This report on the third and final stage of the International Collaborative Program concentrates on the analysis of internal and external variability of 14C dates obtained from samples involved in the full 14C dating process. Thirty-eight laboratories took part in this stage with most producing 8 14C dates from 3 sets of duplicate material (eg, wood, shell and peat) and 2 single samples of wood of known ages 190 yr BP apart. From the 3 sets of duplicates for each laboratory, the internal precision of most laboratories was adequate; 6 labs grossly underestimated their internal reproducibility. From the 14C determinations from the 5 distinct samples for each laboratory, we discovered significant systematic biases, often greater than 100 years, in 15 laboratories and even accounting for bias, 12 laboratories had significantly greater external variability than explained by their quoted errors. In total, 23 out of the 38 laboratories in this stage of the study, FAILED to meet these 3 basic criteria for an adequate performance in the production of 14C dates.

Extracting a series of amino acids from fossil “collagen” makes it possible to compare chemically well-characterized molecules from one bone sample, both chemically and by isotopic analysis. Thus, the integrity of collagen samples and possible contamination can be checked. We describe the routine high-performance liquid chromatographic extraction of five amino acids: glycine, hydroxyproline, glutamate, threonine and alanine. Humates are eliminated during the extraction, which can be monitored continuously.

We have been measuring 14C in natural, biological materials growing in the vicinity of Sellafield, Cumbria as a continuing project with BNFL to understand the dispersion of releases from the site over several seasons. We have measured locally grown foodstuffs for monitoring purposes, individual tree rings to establish a chronology of releases, hawthorn berries for spatial investigations and are now carrying out controlled plot uptake experiments. We have been attempting to validate a current dispersion model (Clarke 1979) over a six-year period, and although we observe general agreement in most years, certain anomalies, which probably relate to topographical features, are leading to more detailed correlation with local meteorological data.

Following Harwell Measurements VI (Walker & Otlet 1988) this is the second of the series of lists of English archaeological dates commissioned for measurement by the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England and Wales within prescribed contractual periods. This list, containing 176 dates, refers to the period, April 1986 to March 1987, and results are reported irrespective of whether the associated projects are completed or ongoing.

The use of computer data bases for storage and retrieval of 14C data is a logical application for the rapidly expanding numbers of 14C determinations. Harwell has established a data base for all samples originating from sites in the United Kingdom and Eire. The core of the data is the Council for British Archaeology's published Index of Radiocarbon Dates which we are expanding to include all Harwell UK dates released for publication by the submitters plus dates from other laboratories both within and outside the UK. As a demonstration of the feasibility of direct database-to-database communication, cooperation has been sought from Groningen and Oxford to transfer computer files containing 14C results for UK sites. Neither of these laboratories use the same system as Harwell for their in-house data base and this exercise highlights the importance of a transfer language for both the national and international schemes as it is no longer practical to carry out such procedures through keyboard typing.