Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T06:03:41.323Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sampling Iron for Radiocarbon Dating: Influence of Modern Steel Tools on 14C Dating of Ancient Iron Artifacts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Matthias Hüls ,
Pieter M Grootes  and
Marie-Josée Nadeau
Pieter M Grootes
Affiliation:
Leibniz Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Isotope Research, Christian Albrecht University, Kiel, Germany.
Marie-Josée Nadeau
Affiliation:
Leibniz Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Isotope Research, Christian Albrecht University, Kiel, Germany.
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.

Before the 17th century, charcoal was regularly used in the production of iron (smelting and forging) and some of this charcoal carbon was incorporated into the iron. Depending on the age of the wood used to produce the charcoal, the age of the carbon incorporated in the iron lattice can reflect the age of manufacture of the iron artifacts. A reliable preparation method allowing for the routine dating of iron artifacts would permit the dating of numerous objects for which now the age can only be estimated. In an earlier work (Hüls et al. 2004), we tested the extraction of carbon from iron samples by closed-tube combustion. The samples were cut in small pieces to ease the release of the carbon from the lattice. During the tests, it became clear that the steel tools used to cut the samples can add contamination at the surface. As modern steel is made using coal, this leads to erroneously old ages. We have tested ways to reduce or eliminate this surface contamination from the sampling tools using iron artifacts of known ages. In order to quantify the contamination, we produced standard test materials from pure iron (99.998% Fe) melted with carbon of known 14C content and prepared samples using different cutting tools. The results of these tests indicate that the proper choice of cutting technique and tool, combined with an additional cleaning of the freshly cut surface, reduces sample contaminations to low levels; measured sample 14C concentrations are close to the 14C content of the charcoal used to produce these standard iron samples.

Type
Methods, Applications, and Developments
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , 2011 , pp. 151 - 160
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

REFERENCES

Beukens, RP, Pavlish, LA, Wilson, GC, Farquhar, RM. 1999. Authenticity of a Korean iron warrior on horseback. In: Young, SMM, Pollard, AM, Budd, P, Ixer, RA, editors. Metals in Antiquity. BAR International Series 792. Oxford: Archaeopress. p 297–300.Google Scholar
Bruhn, F, Duhr, A, Grootes, PM, Mintrop, A, Nadeau, M-J. 2001. Chemical removal of conservation substances by ‘Soxhlet’-type extraction. Radiocarbon 43(2A):229–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchwald, VF. 2005. Iron and Steel in Ancient Times. Copenhagen: The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. 372 p.Google Scholar
Cook, AC, Wadsworth, J, Southon, JR. 2001. AMS radiocarbon dating of ancient iron artifacts: a new carbon extraction method in use at LLNL. Radiocarbon 43(2A):221–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, AC, Wadsworth, J, Southon, JR, van der Merwe, NJ. 2003. AMS radiocarbon dating of rusty iron. Journal of Archaeological Science 30(1):95–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craddock, PT, Wayman, ML, Jull, AJT. 2002. The radiocarbon dating and authentication of iron artifacts. Radiocarbon 44(3):717–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cresswell, RG. 1992. Radiocarbon dating of iron artifacts. Radiocarbon 34(3):898–905.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enami, H, Nakamura, T, Oda, H, Yamada, T, Tsukamoto, T. 2004. AMS 14C dating of iron artifacts: development and application. Radiocarbon 46(1):219–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harbottle, G, Cresswell, RG, Stoenner, RW. 1993. Carbon-14 dating of iron blooms from Kodlunarn Island. In: Fitzhugh, WW, Olin, JS, editors. Archaeology of the Frobisher Voyages. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institute Press. p 173–80.Google Scholar
Hüls, CM, Grootes, PM, Nadeau, M-J, Bruhn, F, Hasselberg, P, Erlenkeuser, H. 2004. AMS radiocarbon dating of iron artefacts. Nuclear Instruments and Materials in Physics Research B 223–224:709–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nadeau, M-J, Grootes, PM, Schleicher, M, Hasselberg, P, Rieck, A, Bitterling, M. 1998. Sample throughput and data quality at the Leibniz-Labor AMS facility. Radiocarbon 40(1):239–45.Google Scholar
Nakamura, T, Hirasawa, M, Igaki, K. 1995. AMS radiocarbon dating of ancient oriental iron artifacts at Nagoya University. Radiocarbon 37(2):629–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oinonen, M, Haggren, G, Kaskela, A, Lavento, M, Palonen, V, Tikkanen, P. 2009. Radiocarbon dating of iron: a northern contribution. Radiocarbon 51(2):873–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scharf, A, Kretschmer, W, Morgenroth, G, Uhl, T, Kritzler, K, Hunger, K, Pernicka, E. 2004. Radiocarbon dating of iron artifacts at the Erlangen AMS facility. Radiocarbon 46(1):175–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar