When dental enamel is put to the acid test: pretreatment effects and radiocarbon dating
The influence of hydrochloric acid pretreatment on F14C and radiocarbon dates from dental enamel was investigated. Samples from modern equine incisors, a Roman cattle molar, and a Paleolithic woolly rhino molar were sampled and subsequently divided into five fractions. Each fraction was pretreated w...
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Format: | Journal article |
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Cambridge University Press
2016
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author | Hopkins, R Snoeck, C Higham, T |
author_facet | Hopkins, R Snoeck, C Higham, T |
author_sort | Hopkins, R |
collection | OXFORD |
description | The influence of hydrochloric acid pretreatment on F14C and radiocarbon dates from dental enamel was investigated. Samples from modern equine incisors, a Roman cattle molar, and a Paleolithic woolly rhino molar were sampled and subsequently divided into five fractions. Each fraction was pretreated with a different acid solution, analyzed with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dated at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU). When compared to a control date (e.g. dentine collagen), better results were observed when increased concentrations of hydrochloric acid solution were used in the chemical pretreatment. This pilot study suggests that decontamination of younger samples may be possible. However, for more fossilized samples with a high level of contamination (e.g. from the European Paleolithic), acid pretreatment under the conditions used in this study does not remove all contamination. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-06T18:41:40Z |
format | Journal article |
id | oxford-uuid:0d0e8f82-6dce-4d20-8cfa-b051041d88c4 |
institution | University of Oxford |
last_indexed | 2024-03-06T18:41:40Z |
publishDate | 2016 |
publisher | Cambridge University Press |
record_format | dspace |
spelling | oxford-uuid:0d0e8f82-6dce-4d20-8cfa-b051041d88c42022-03-26T09:38:35ZWhen dental enamel is put to the acid test: pretreatment effects and radiocarbon datingJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:0d0e8f82-6dce-4d20-8cfa-b051041d88c4Symplectic Elements at OxfordCambridge University Press2016Hopkins, RSnoeck, CHigham, TThe influence of hydrochloric acid pretreatment on F14C and radiocarbon dates from dental enamel was investigated. Samples from modern equine incisors, a Roman cattle molar, and a Paleolithic woolly rhino molar were sampled and subsequently divided into five fractions. Each fraction was pretreated with a different acid solution, analyzed with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dated at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU). When compared to a control date (e.g. dentine collagen), better results were observed when increased concentrations of hydrochloric acid solution were used in the chemical pretreatment. This pilot study suggests that decontamination of younger samples may be possible. However, for more fossilized samples with a high level of contamination (e.g. from the European Paleolithic), acid pretreatment under the conditions used in this study does not remove all contamination. |
spellingShingle | Hopkins, R Snoeck, C Higham, T When dental enamel is put to the acid test: pretreatment effects and radiocarbon dating |
title | When dental enamel is put to the acid test: pretreatment effects and radiocarbon dating |
title_full | When dental enamel is put to the acid test: pretreatment effects and radiocarbon dating |
title_fullStr | When dental enamel is put to the acid test: pretreatment effects and radiocarbon dating |
title_full_unstemmed | When dental enamel is put to the acid test: pretreatment effects and radiocarbon dating |
title_short | When dental enamel is put to the acid test: pretreatment effects and radiocarbon dating |
title_sort | when dental enamel is put to the acid test pretreatment effects and radiocarbon dating |
work_keys_str_mv | AT hopkinsr whendentalenamelisputtotheacidtestpretreatmenteffectsandradiocarbondating AT snoeckc whendentalenamelisputtotheacidtestpretreatmenteffectsandradiocarbondating AT highamt whendentalenamelisputtotheacidtestpretreatmenteffectsandradiocarbondating |