An Experiment to Refute the Likelihood of Cellulose Carboxylation
Issue Date
1998-01-01Keywords
carboxylationsilver
cellulose
polysaccharides
carbohydrates
temperature
water
accuracy
errors
archaeologyaccelerator mass spectroscopymass spectroscopyspectroscopymetalsexperimental studiesorganic compoundsmethodswoodC 14carbonisotopesradioactive isotopescarbon dioxideabsolute age
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Hedges, R. E. M., Bronk Ramsey, C., & Van Klinken, G. J. (1998). An experiment to refute the likelihood of cellulose carboxylation. Radiocarbon, 40(1), 59-60.Journal
RadiocarbonDescription
From the 16th International Radiocarbon Conference held in Gronigen, Netherlands, June 16-20, 1997.Additional Links
http://radiocarbon.webhost.uits.arizona.edu/Abstract
To test the hypothesis that cellulose in linen can be carboxylated at high temperatures in the presence of CO2, water and silver, we heated two aliquots of cellulose extracted from old wood in glass ampoules, adding Ag powder to one to test its potential action as a catalyst for the carboxylation reaction. AMS measurement of the heated aliquots showed no statistically significant difference in 14C content from the "uncarboxylated" cellulose. We conclude that carboxylation is not a systematic source of error in the dating of cellulose-containing materials such as the linen in the Shroud of Turin.Type
Proceedingstext