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Anomalous Radiocarbon Dates from the Early Medieval Cremation Graves from Broechem (Flanders, Belgium): Reservoir or Old Wood Effects?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 January 2020

Rica Annaert ,
Mathieu Boudin ,
Koen Deforce Open the ORCID record for Koen Deforce [Opens in a new window] ,
Anton Ervynck ,
Kristof Haneca Open the ORCID record for Kristof Haneca [Opens in a new window] ,
An Lentacker  and
Christophe Snoeck
Rica Annaert
Affiliation:
Flanders Heritage Agency, Herman Teirlinck building, Havenlaan 88 box 5, 1000Brussels, Belgium
Mathieu Boudin
Affiliation:
Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Jubelpark 1, 1000, Brussels, Belgium
Koen Deforce
Affiliation:
Flanders Heritage Agency, Herman Teirlinck building, Havenlaan 88 box 5, 1000Brussels, Belgium Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, 1000Brussels, Belgium
Anton Ervynck*
Affiliation:
Flanders Heritage Agency, Herman Teirlinck building, Havenlaan 88 box 5, 1000Brussels, Belgium
Kristof Haneca
Affiliation:
Flanders Heritage Agency, Herman Teirlinck building, Havenlaan 88 box 5, 1000Brussels, Belgium
An Lentacker
Affiliation:
Flanders Heritage Agency, Herman Teirlinck building, Havenlaan 88 box 5, 1000Brussels, Belgium
Christophe Snoeck
Affiliation:
Analytical, Environmental & Geo-Chemistry, Dept. of Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, AMGC-WE-VUB, Pleinlaan 2, 1050Brussels, Belgium G-Time Laboratory, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP 160/02, 50, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 1050Brussels, Belgium
*
*Corresponding author. Email: anton.ervynck@vlaanderen.be
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Abstract

As part of the study of the early medieval cemetery at Broechem (Belgium), human bones from 32 cremation graves have been dated through radiocarbon (14C) analysis. It was noted that many of the dates were not in accordance with the chronological ranges provided by the characteristics of the cultural artifacts deposited in the graves. In fact, the human bones were “older” than the artifacts. Subsequently, a number of animal bones (in all cases from domestic pigs) was radiocarbon dated, yielding dates that were more consistent with the information from the cultural artifacts than the human bones. The dates obtained on human and pig bones from the same grave often differed around 100 radiocarbon years. This paper tries to find an explanation for the pattern observed, concentrating on two hypotheses: aquatic reservoir versus old wood effects. The evaluation takes into account additional radiocarbon dates derived from charcoal fragments of the funeral pyre, from both short-lived and long-lived taxa. A conclusive explanation for the anomalous radiocarbon dates could not be reached but clear suggestions can be put forward for future experimental work that will without doubt shed more light upon the interpretational problems raised.

Keywords

cremated animal bonecremated human bonedating biasradiocarbon dating
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 62 , Issue 2 , April 2020 , pp. 269 - 288
Copyright
© 2020 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona

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