The Settlement Date of Iceland Revisited
Evaluation of 14 C Dates from Sites of Early Settlers in Iceland by Bayesian Statistics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9245546 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Árný E Sveinbjörnsdóttir, Christopher B Ramsey (0000-0002-8641-9309), Jan Heinemeier (0000-0003-3024-6709) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 58 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 235-245 |
| Publication date | 2016-06-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Radiocarbon (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0033-8222 • E-ISSN: 1945-5755 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/rdc.2016.2 |
| OpenAlex | W2254707673 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 19 |
The settlement time of Iceland has been debated for years as radiocarbon dates of bulk wood samples have been interpreted to set a timing 150–200 yr earlier than indicated by tephrochronology (later than AD 871±2) and the Sagas (AD 874). This early date is also in conflict with the dating results on extensive series of short-lived material such as grain and domestic animal and human bone remains of early settlers. The old-wood effect for the charcoal and bulk wood samples has been suggested to explain this controversy. This study uses a Bayesian model, implemented in the OxCal program, to show that the charcoal data combined with short-lived material (grain/bone) suggest ages anywhere in the interval AD 854–922 (95.4% probability), indicating that the available 14 C data cannot be taken as compelling evidence that there was a settlement any earlier than AD 922. The Bayesian model shows that the observed exponential distribution of the excess age of the bulk wood samples is exactly as expected if there was an old-wood effect evident in the samples
Absolute dating · Archaeology · Bayesian probability · Charcoal · Geography · Physical geography · Radiocarbon dating · Statistics · Tephrochronology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Chemistry · Mathematics · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Geology · Paleontology
Age Determinations by Radiocarbon Content
Ash layers from Iceland in the Greenland GRIP ice core correlated with oceanic and land sediments
Short-Lived Plant Materials, Long-Lived Trees, and Polynesian 14 C Dating
An Icelandic freshwater radiocarbon reservoir effect
Radiocarbon reservoir effects in human bone collagen from northern Iceland
Change of Diet of the Greenland Vikings Determined from Stable Carbon Isotope Analysis and 14 C Dating of Their Bones
IntCal13 and Marine13 Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curves 0–50,000 Years cal BP
Dealing with Outliers and Offsets in Radiocarbon Dating
Radiocarbon Calibration and Analysis of Stratigraphy
High-Precision Bayesian Modeling of Samples Susceptible to Inbuilt Age
Temporal and Spatial Variations in Freshwater 14 C Reservoir Effects
Reservoirs and Radiocarbon
C Dating of the Settlement of Iceland
Norse settlement of Iceland — close to ad 700
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2017 - 2021 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |