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Reservoirs and Radiocarbon: 14C Dating Problems in Mývatnssveit, Northern Iceland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Philippa L Ascough ,
Gordon T Cook ,
Mike J Church ,
Andrew J Dugmore ,
Thomas H McGovern ,
Elaine Dunbar ,
árni Einarsson ,
Adolf Frioriksson  and
Hildur Gestsdóttir
Philippa L Ascough*
Affiliation:
Geography and Geoscience, Irvine Building, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9AL, United Kingdom
Gordon T Cook
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride G75 OQF, United Kingdom
Mike J Church
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom
Andrew J Dugmore
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, United Kingdom
Thomas H McGovern
Affiliation:
Hunter Bioarchaeology Laboratory, Hunter College CUNY, New York, New York 10021, USA
Elaine Dunbar
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride G75 OQF, United Kingdom
árni Einarsson
Affiliation:
Mývatn Research Station, Skútustaoir, Iceland
Adolf Frioriksson
Affiliation:
Fornleifastofnun íslands (Institute of Archaeology), Iceland
Hildur Gestsdóttir
Affiliation:
Fornleifastofnun íslands (Institute of Archaeology), Iceland
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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This paper examines 2 potential sources of the radiocarbon offset between human and terrestrial mammal (horse) bones recovered from Norse (∼AD 870–1000) pagan graves in Mývatnssveit, north Iceland. These are the marine and freshwater 14C reservoir effects that may be incorporated into human bones from dietary sources. The size of the marine 14C reservoir effect (MRE) during the Norse period was investigated by measurement of multiple paired samples (terrestrial mammal and marine mollusk shell) at 2 archaeological sites in Mývatnssveit and 1 site on the north Icelandic coast. These produced 3 new δR values for the north coast of Iceland, indicating a δR of 106 ± 10 14C yr at AD 868–985, and of 144 ± 28 14C yr at AD 1280–1400. These values are statistically comparable and give an overall weighted mean δR of 111 ± 10 14C yr.

The freshwater reservoir effect was similarly quantified using freshwater fish bones from a site in Mývatnssveit. These show an offset of between 1285 and 1830 14C yr, where the fish are depleted in 14C relative to the terrestrial mammals. This is attributed to the input of geothermally derived CO2 into the groundwater and subsequently into Lake Mývatn. We conclude the following: i) some of the Norse inhabitants of Mývatnssveit incorporated non-terrestrial resources into their diet that may be identified from the stable isotope composition of their bone collagen; ii) the MRE off the north Icelandic coast during the Norse period fits a spatial gradient of wider North Atlantic MRE values with increasing values to the northwest; and iii) it is important to consider the effect that geothermal activity could have on the 14C activity of samples influenced by groundwater at Icelandic archaeological sites.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , 2007 , pp. 947 - 961
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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