Refining the Hallstatt Plateau

Short-Term 14 C Variability and Small Scale Offsets in 50 Consecutive Single Tree-Rings from Southwest Scotland Dendro-Dated to 510–460 BC

Bibliographic Data

ID9243144
AuthorsPiotr Jacobsson (0000-0001-7358-5650), Derek Hamilton (0000-0003-4019-3823), Gordon Cook (0000-0002-7206-6266), Anne Crone, Elaine Dunbar (0000-0001-5183-5583), Helen Kinch, Philip Naysmith, Brian Tripney, Sheng Xu (0000-0002-7503-2467)
Year2018
Volume60
Issue1
Pages219-237
Publication date2018-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueRadiocarbon (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-8222 • E-ISSN: 1945-5755
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/rdc.2017.90
OpenAlexW2754800465
LanguageEN
Citations received22
References cited27

Radiocarbon ( 14 C) wiggle-match dating is a technique with a substantial potential to improve the precision of dating timbers in situations where dendrochronology is not tenable. However, one of the key reasons why obtaining a dendrochronological determination might be difficult is the short-lived nature of timbers on a range of archaeological sites, something that also affects the efficiency of the wiggle-match dating technique. Combined with the potential for high expense that the technique presents, it is paramount that wiggle-match dating research design has a good empirical basis. To this end we dated 50 consecutive, individual rings from a timber that grew during the Hallstatt radiocarbon calibration plateau (ca. 750–400 cal BC) in southwest Scotland. The results indicate that (1) the precision and accuracy of wiggle-match dates carried out on short-lived sequences during the Hallstatt plateau may suffer due to insufficient resolution of the calibration data, (2) sampling time-frames roughly equivalent to the underpinning calibration data are recommended (for the period in question this means decadal blocks), and (3) short-lived sequences are at risk of losing accuracy if the actual past trend of radiocarbon diverges from the mean of the radiocarbon calibration curve

Absolute dating · Archaeology · Calibration · Dendrochronology · Geography · Physical geography · Physics · Radiocarbon dating · Statistics · Archaeological Research and Protection · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Mathematics · Geology · Paleontology

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access