Charcoal-painted images from the French Neolithic Villevenard hypogea: an experimental protocol for radiocarbon dating of conserved and in situ carbon with consolidant contamination

Armitage, Ruth Ann; Bueno‐Ramírez, Primitiva; Balbín-Behrmann, Rodrigo de; Martineau, Rémi; Carrera-Ramírez, Fernando; Fairchild, Tara; Southon, John

doi:10.1007/s12520-020-01077-3

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…2019), and conservation treatments in samples to be radiocarbon dated (Armitage et al . 2020). This technique requires only miniscule samples for analysis, making it generally ideal for screening of samples for AMS dating.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical characterization and radiocarbon dating of the rock art of Las Charcas caves, Cuba

Armitage

Delgado²,

Torres

et al. 2020

Archaeometry

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There has been much debate over the decades amongst Cuban archaeologists about what group or groups may have created the rock art in the karst caves of Cuba. The complexities of Cuba's history made dating rock paintings an attractive method for determining their origins. Samples were collected from three caves in Mayabeque province, collectively referred to as Las Charcas. Chemical analyses were carried out along with plasma–chemical oxidation and accelerator mass spectrometric radiocarbon dating. The paintings in two caves contained bitumen, resulting in anomalously old dates, whilst the other cave's amorphous carbon‐based paintings fit within a pre‐Columbian context.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical characterization and radiocarbon dating of the rock art of Las Charcas caves, Cuba

Armitage

Delgado²,

Torres

et al. 2020

Archaeometry

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“…In archaeology and material conservation sciences, FTIR is also useful when dealing with charcoal and wood. It has been used to discriminate between wood species (Traore et al 2016(Traore et al , 2018, in wood provenance studies (Broda and Propescu 2019), and to detect trace contamination from chemical consolidants (Armitage et al 2020). This study is an application of the latter, wherein we use FTIR analysis on archaeological and known-age charcoals to detect paraffin contamination and evaluate the efficacy of a 14 C pretreatment protocol.…”

Section: Ftir Analysis Of Contaminated Charcoalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…14 C samples contaminated with paraffin wax require additional solvent washes prior to Acid-Base-Acid treatment (Brock et al 2018;Bruhn et al 2001). Recently, Armitage et al (2020) demonstrated a simple procedure for removing paraffin contaminants from Neolithic-age charcoal-based pigments. Their trials involved three 15-min sonication rinses in 1 mL of chloroform followed by base treatment to remove humates.…”

Section: Solvent Washmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tree-Ring-Radiocarbon Dating Paraffin-Conserved Charcoal at the Mississippian Center of Kincaid, Illinois, Usa

et al. 2022

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Archival charcoal tree-ring segments from the Mississippian center of Kincaid Mounds provide chronometric information for the history of this important site. However, charcoal recovered from Kincaid was originally treated with a paraffin consolidant, a once common practice in American archaeology. This paper presents data on the efficacy of a solvent pretreatment protocol and new wiggle-matched 14C dates from the largest mound (Mound 10) at Kincaid. FTIR and 14C analysis on known-age charcoal intentionally contaminated with paraffin, as well as archaeological material, show that a chloroform pretreatment is effective at removing paraffin contamination. Wiggle-matched cutting dates from the final construction episodes on Mound 10 at Kincaid, indicate that the mound was used in the late 1300s with the construction of a unique structure on the apex occurring around 1390. This study demonstrates the potential for museum collections of archaeological charcoal to contribute high-resolution chronological information despite past conservation practices that complicate 14C dating.

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“…It has the advantage of extracting minute quantities of carbon from the target pigment separately from carbonate and oxalate contamination because the plasma energy can be maintained below the energies (radiofrequency and temperatures) where those inorganic molecules dissociate. For examples of the experimental procedures used, see the recent publications from the three currently operating plasma oxidation laboratories (Armitage et al, 2020;Baker and Armitage, 2013;Loendorf et al, 2017;McDonald et al, 2014;Rowe et al, 2016Rowe et al, , 2021Russ et al, 2017;Steelman et al, 2019Steelman et al, , 2021.…”

Section: Radiocarbon Dating Via Oxidation Plasmamentioning

confidence: 99%

First dating of a rock painting in Ẓufār (Sultanate of Oman): Low energy plasma oxidation radiocarbon sampling

et al. 2022

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We successfully measured four radiocarbon dates on two specimens of a black geometric rock painting with a fragment in jeopardy of naturally spalling off in the wall of a rock shelter in the Ẓufār region, in the south of the Sultanate of Oman. Extraction of carbon dioxide (CO2) for radiocarbon dating of the binder in the black pigment of the rock painting specimen was conducted in the plasma oxidation laboratory at the Office of Archeological Studies in Santa Fe, NM. The radiocarbon content was measured on the Swiss ETH-Zürich accelerator mass spectrometer MICADAS. The dates obtained agreed with one another within the statistical uncertainty and the average date of the four samples was 1500 ± 35 radiocarbon years BP. The calendric equivalents of the average date results in calendric calibration date ranges that span the mid-fifth through mid-seventh centuries (440–453 CE, 478–496 CE, and 534–646 CE). This research demonstrates that it is possible to date the black paintings of the Jebel al-Qara’ area of Oman; this is the first pictogram that was dated using radiocarbon dating in the region.

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Charcoal-painted images from the French Neolithic Villevenard hypogea: an experimental protocol for radiocarbon dating of conserved and in situ carbon with consolidant contamination

Cited by 8 publications

References 35 publications

Chemical characterization and radiocarbon dating of the rock art of Las Charcas caves, Cuba

Chemical characterization and radiocarbon dating of the rock art of Las Charcas caves, Cuba

Tree-Ring-Radiocarbon Dating Paraffin-Conserved Charcoal at the Mississippian Center of Kincaid, Illinois, Usa

First dating of a rock painting in Ẓufār (Sultanate of Oman): Low energy plasma oxidation radiocarbon sampling

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