A Pretreatment Procedure for the AMS Radiocarbon Dating of Sub-Fossil Insect Remains
Issue Date
2004-01-01Keywords
absolute ageaccelerator mass spectroscopy
Arthropoda
C 14
calibration
Cambridgeshire England
carbon
carbonates
Cenozoic
chitinColeopteradatesEndopterygotaEnglandEuropeGodmanchester EnglandGreat BritainHoloceneInsectaInvertebrataisotopesMandibulatamass spectroscopymethodsNeopterapreservationPterygotapurificationQuaternaryradioactive isotopesRoman periodsample preparationseedsspectroscopyUnited Kingdomupper HoloceneWestern Europe
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Tripp, J. A., Higham, T. F. G., & Hedges, R. E. M. (2004). A pretreatment procedure for the AMS radiocarbon dating of sub-fossil insect remains. Radiocarbon, 46(1), 147-154.Journal
RadiocarbonDescription
From the 18th International Radiocarbon Conference held in Wellington, New Zealand, September 1-5, 2003.Additional Links
http://radiocarbon.webhost.uits.arizona.edu/Abstract
Two pretreatment methods for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating of insect remains were explored. One method involves a simple acid wash that removes carbonate, while the other is based on the industrial purification of chitin and results in isolation of polymeric chitosan. No contamination is observed from Maillard reactions during the deacetylation reaction used to isolate the chitosan. The methods were tested on Coleoptera samples from two Roman Britain sites. Our results demonstrate that both methods produce acceptable AMS dates that correspond well to the expected age of the deposits from which they came.Type
Proceedingstext