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Accurate Radiocarbon Dating of Archaeological Ash Using Pyrogenic Aragonite

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2017

Michael B Toffolo Open the ORCID record for Michael B Toffolo [Opens in a new window] ,
Lior Regev ,
Eugenia Mintz ,
Kristin M Poduska ,
Ruth Shahack-Gross ,
Christoph Berthold ,
Christopher E Miller  and
Elisabetta Boaretto
Michael B Toffolo*
Affiliation:
Institut für Naturwissenschaftliche Archäologie, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen 72070, Germany
Lior Regev
Affiliation:
Max Planck-Weizmann Center for Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology, D-REAMS Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Eugenia Mintz
Affiliation:
Max Planck-Weizmann Center for Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology, D-REAMS Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Kristin M Poduska
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, Memorial University Newfoundland, St. John’s NL A1B 3X7, Canada
Ruth Shahack-Gross
Affiliation:
Department of Maritime Civilizations, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
Christoph Berthold
Affiliation:
Competence Center Archaeometry – Baden-Württemberg (CCA-BW), Angewandte Mineralogie, Fachbereich Geowissenschaften, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen 72074, Germany
Christopher E Miller
Affiliation:
Institut für Naturwissenschaftliche Archäologie, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen 72070, Germany Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen 72070, Germany
Elisabetta Boaretto*
Affiliation:
Max Planck-Weizmann Center for Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology, D-REAMS Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
*
*Corresponding authors. Email: [email protected]; [email protected].
*Corresponding authors. Email: [email protected]; [email protected].
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Abstract

Obtaining accurate age determinations from minerals in archaeological ash is a major unsolved issue in radiocarbon (14C) dating. This is because the original 14C content of calcite, the main component of ash, is altered by isotopic exchange. Pyrogenic aragonite, another mineral phase recently discovered in ash, might preserve its 14C signature through time. Using a new method based on density separation and step combustion, we were able to isolate and date aragonitic ash from an archaeological destruction horizon of known age. Here we show that the 14C age of aragonite matches the age of the destruction horizon. Our results demonstrate that pyrogenic aragonite is a short-lived material suitable for 14C dating and directly related to human activities involving the use of fire, thus bearing major implications for the establishment of absolute chronologies for the past 50,000 yr.

Keywords

asharagonitecalcitediagenesisdensity separation
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 59 , Issue 1 , February 2017 , pp. 231 - 249
Copyright
© 2017 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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