Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T12:57:21.065Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Personal Reflection on 40 Years of Radiocarbon Dating and Archaeology1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2016

Mark Van Strydonck
Mark Van Strydonck*
Affiliation:
Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA), Jubelpark 1, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In 1981, the first 14C and Archaeology Symposium was organized because it was felt necessary to have a symposium that focused on the specific problems related to the use of 14C dating in archaeology. The dating method has been constantly changing and approving itself technically as well as in the application of the method. The relationship between the archaeologists and the 14C dating laboratories has, however, never been straightforward. For a lot of 14C laboratories, archaeology was not their core business. For archaeologists, the main problem arose from an insufficient knowledge of natural sciences. The last decennia, however, 14C and archaeology are growing towards one another. One of the reasons might be the introduction of small exclusively 14C-dedicated machines and the availability of fully automatic graphitization lines.

Keywords

radiocarbon datinghistory of the methodarchaeology
Type
Keynote Paper
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 59 , Special Issue 5: 8th International Symposium, Edinburgh, 27 June – 1 July, 2016 Part 1 of 2 , October 2017 , pp. 1241 - 1250
Copyright
© 2016 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

Written version of the opening speech delivered at the 8th International Symposium 14C and Archaeology, Edinburgh.

Selected Papers from the 2015 Radiocarbon Conference, Dakar, Senegal, 16–20 November 2015

References

REFERENCES

Anglada, M, Ferrer, A, Plantalamor, L, Ramis, D, Van Strydonck, M, De Mulder, G. 2014. Chronological framework for the early Talayotic period in Menorca: the settlement of Cornia Nou. Radiocarbon 56(2):411–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnold, JR, Libby, WF. 1949. Age determinations by radiocarbon content: checks with samples of known age. Science 110(2869):678–680.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chippindale, C. 1990. How many kinds of age do historical scientists need, and what should they be called? In: Mook WG, Waterbolk HT, editors. 2nd International Symposium 14 C and Archaeology Groningen 1987. Pact 29 . Strasbourg: Council of Europe. p 183–194.Google Scholar
Longin, R. 1971. New method of collagen extraction for radiocarbon dating. Nature 230(5291):241–242.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marlowe, G. 1980. W. F. Libby and the archaeologists, 1946–1948. Radiocarbon 22(3):1005–1014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mook, WG. 1989. Account of the business meeting at Dubrovnik, 24/6/88. Radiocarbon 31(3):1077–1078.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, RE. 1991. Radioisotope dating by accelerator mass spectrometry: archaeological and paleontological perspectives. In: Göksu HY, Oberhofer M, Regulla D, editors. Scientific Dating Methods. Commission of the European Communities, Advanced Scientific Techniques Volume 1 . Dordrecht: Kluwer. p 37–54.Google Scholar
Van Strydonck, M, Bénazeth, D. 2014. Four Coptic textiles from the Louvre collection 14C redated after 55 years. Radiocarbon 56(1):1–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Strydonck, M, Nelson, DE, Crombé, P, Bronk Ramsey, C, Scott, EM, van der Plicht, J, Hedges, REM. 1999. What’s in a 14C date. In: Evin J, Oberlin C, Daugas JP, Salles JF, editors. 3rd International Symposium 14C and Archaeology. Mémoires de la Société Préhistorique Française 26, Supplément de la Revue d’Archéométrie. p 433–48.Google Scholar
Van Strydonck, M, Crombé, P, Maes, A. 2001. The site of Verrebroek ‘Dok’ and its contribution to the absolute dating of the Mesolithic in the Low Countries. Radiocarbon 43(2B):997–1005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waterbolk, HT. 1983. Thirty years of radiocarbon dating; the retrospective view of a Groningen archaeologist. In: Mook WG, Waterbolk HT, editors. 1st International Symposium 14 C and Archaeology Groningen 1981. Pact 8 . Strasbourg: Council of Europe. p 17–27.Google Scholar
Waterbolk, HT. 1999. Conférence de clôture. Archaeology and Radiocarbon dating 1948–1998: a Golden Alliance. In: Evin J, Oberlin C, Daugas JP, Salles JF, editors. 3rd International Symposium 14C and Archaeology. Mémoires de la Société Préhistorique Française 26, Supplément de la Revue d’Archéométrie. p 11–7.Google Scholar