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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Main Authors: Hopkins, R, Snoeck, C, Higham, T
Format: Journal article
Published: 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.
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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
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