Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T22:39:37.348Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Results and Methods in the Radiocarbon Dating of Pottery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

R. E. M. Hedges ,
Chen Tiemei  and
R. A. Housley
R. E. M. Hedges
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Oxford University, 6 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3QJ, UK
Chen Tiemei
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Peking University, 100871 Beijing, Peoples Republic of China
R. A. Housley
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Oxford University, 6 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3QJ, UK
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.

The main problem with dating pottery by radiocarbon is that many different carbon sources, of different radiocarbon age, may contribute to the potsherd carbon content. Also, the process of firing is liable to destroy information that might help separate possible sources. We describe several pottery dating projects in which we have dated separate fractions (such as humics, lipids and classes of residual carbon). Although in some cases consistency between results is sufficient to accept that this approach can give a credible date, in other cases, no date has been possible, and general conclusions are difficult to make.

Type
V. Archaeological Applications
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 34 , Issue 3: Proceedings of the 14th International Radiocarbon Conference , 1992 , pp. 906 - 915
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

References

Batten, R. J., Gillespie, R., Gowlett, J. A. J. and Hedges, R. E. M. 1986 The AMS dating of separate fractions in archaeology. In Stuiver, M. and Kra, R. S., eds., Proceedings of the 12th International 14C Conference. Radiocarbon 28(2A): 698–701.Google Scholar
de Atley, S. P. 1980 Radiocarbon dating of ceramic materials: progress and prospects. In Stuiver, M. and Kra, R. S., eds., Proceedings of the 10th International 14C Conference. Radiocarbon 22(3): 987–996.Google Scholar
Gabasio, M., Evin, J., Arnal, G. B. and Andrieux, P. 1986 Origins of carbon in potsherds. In Stuiver, M. and Kra, R. S., eds., Proceedings of the 12th International 14C Conference. Radiocarbon 28(2A): 711–718.Google Scholar
Gowlett, J. A. J., Hedges, R. E. M., Law, I. A. and Perry, C. 1987 Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry Datelist 5. Archaeometry 29(1): 125–155.Google Scholar
Hedges, R. E. M., Housley, R. A., Bronk, C. R. and van Klinken, G. J. 1990 Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry Datelist 11. Archaeometry 32(2): 211–237.Google Scholar
Hedges, R. E. M., Housley, R. A., Bronk, C. R. and van Klinken, G. J. 1991a Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry Datelist 12. Archaeometry 33(1): 121–134.Google Scholar
Hedges, R. E. M., Housley, R. A., Bronk, C. R. and van Klinken, G. J. 1991b Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry Datelist 13. Archaeometry 33(2): 279–296.Google Scholar
Hedges, R. E. M., Housley, R. A., Law, I. A. and Bronk, C. R. 1989 Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry Datelist 9. Archaeometry 31(2): 207–234.Google Scholar
Hedges, R. E. M., Housley, R. A., Law, I. A., Perry, C. and Hendy, E. 1988 Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry Datelist 8. Archaeometry 30(2): 291–305.Google Scholar
Heron, C., Evershed, R. P. and Goad, L. J. 1991 Effects of diagenesis and migration on organic residues associated with buried potsherds. Journal of Archaeological Science (in press).Google Scholar
Johnson, J. S., Clark, J., Miller-Antonio, S., Robins, D., Schiffer, M. B. and Skibo, J. M. 1988 Effects of firing temperature on the fate of naturally occurring organic matter in clays. Journal of Archaeological Science 15: 403–414.Google Scholar
Johnson, R. A., Stipp, J. J., Tamers, M. A., Bonani, G., Suter, M. and Wölfli, W. 1986 Archaeologic sherd dating: Comparison of thermoluminescence dates with radiocarbon dates by beta counting and accelerator techniques. In Stuiver, M. and Kra, R. S., eds., Proceedings of the 12th International 14C Conference. Radiocarbon 28(2A): 719–725 Google Scholar
Roosevelt, A. C., Housley, R. A., Imazio da Silveira, M., Maranca, S. and Johnson, R. 1991 Eighth millennium pottery from a prehistoric shell midden in the Brazilian Amazon. Science 254: 1621–1624.Google Scholar