Title: |
Bone Pretreatment by Ultra-Filtration: A Report on Unintended Age Offsets Introducted by the Method |
Series: |
Historic England Research Reports
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Downloads: |
englishh2-379478_1.pdf (1 MB)
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Licence Type: |
ADS Terms of Use and Access
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DOI |
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Publication Type: |
Report (in Series)
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Abstract: |
Bone samples for radiocarbon dating undergo pre-treatment to extract original proteins from the bone and to exclude contaminants. Ultrafiltration is an extra stage in this process which further purifies the proteins and was first developed in 1988 (Brown et al 1988). In 2000 the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU) adopted this method for the pre-treatment of bone in order to improve the accuracy of its dating. Diagnostics of protein purity, including CN ratio, and background measurements all indicated that the method was working well. However, in 2002 it became apparent that the accuracy of dates, particularly those younger than 10,000 years old, was in some instances, being affected by the technique because of traces of contaminants from the filters themselves. A new method of preparing and testing the filters was developed (Bronk Ramsey et al 2004) and a programme of re-dating started. Despite the purity of protein resulting from the original method, the remaining filterderived contaminants (averaging 1.5%) were very different in age from the samples and this produced age offsets averaging 120 years. |
Author: |
C Bronk Ramsey
Thomas F G Higham
J Pearson
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Publisher: |
Historic England
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Other Person/Org: |
Historic England (OASIS Reviewer)
Please note: this record has been validated by-proxy by Historic England.
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Year of Publication: |
2011
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Locations: |
Site: |
Spring Road Cemetery |
County: |
Oxfordshire |
District: |
Vale of White Horse |
Parish: |
ABINGDON |
Country: |
England |
Grid Reference: 448750, 197550 (Easting, Northing)
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Subjects / Periods: |
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Identifiers: |
OASIS Id: |
englishh2-379478 |
OBIB: |
91/2011 |
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Note: |
A4 report of 23pp.
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Source: |
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Relations: |
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Created Date: |
16 Apr 2020 |