Validity of Radiocarbon Dates on Terrestrial Snail Shells

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2563459
AutoresM A Tamers (Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, autor de correspondencia)
Año1970
Volumen35
Número1
Páginas94-100
Fecha de publicación1970-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAmerican Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0002-7316 • E-ISSN: 2325-5064
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/278181
OpenAlexW2330015067
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas18
Referencias citadas9

Radiocarbon dating of terrestrial snail shells is examined. Three groups of samples, two from archaeological sites of Venezuela and one from the state of Texas, were taken as examples. The true ages were determined from radiocarbon dates on associated charcoal, and measurements on the snail shells allowed the errors to be determined. The groups showed completely different characteristics: 15 samples from Texas all had ages falsely old, 12 specimens of one Venezuelan group produced all correct dates, and another Venezuelan type with five samples gave dates all too recent. This study defines the directions and extents of errors for each group of snail shells, permitting them to be used as relatively reliable datable objectives in excavations where better materials are not available.The possibility of correcting the radiocarbon dates using carbon-13 concentrations is considered, and 24 measurements are presented. It is concluded that more than one factor can influence the stable isotope concentrations in each case, and, therefore, carbon-13 is not useful for the improvement of the accuracy of snail shell dates

Archaeology · Biology · Charcoal · Geography · Isotopes of carbon · Radiocarbon dating · Snail · Total organic carbon · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Chemistry · Ecology · Geology · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology · Paleontology