The Catacomb Cultures of the North-West Caspian Steppe: ¹⁴C Chronology, Reservoir Effect, and Paleodiet

Abstract

ABSTRACT. For the Bronze Age Catacomb cultures of the North-West Caspian steppe area in Russia, there is a conflict between the traditional relative archaeological chronology and the chronology based on radiocarbon dates. We show that this conflict can be explained largely by the fact that most dates have been obtained on human bone material and are subject to 14 C reservoir effects. This was demonstrated by comparing paired 14 C dates derived from human and terrestrial herbivore bone collagen. In addition, values of stable isotope ratios (Ô 13 C and δ 15 Ν) and analysis of food remains from vessels and the stomach contents of buried individuals indicate that a large part of the diet of these cultures consisted of fish and mollusks, and we conclude that this is the source of the reservoir effect.

Chronometry of Late Eneolithic and ‘Early Bronze’ Cultures in the Middle Dniester Area: Investigations of the Yampil Barrow Complex

“…Such comprehensive research has been carried out in respect of Caspian finds [Shishlina et al . 2000;2007; . For the Northern Pontic area, major significance is attached to a series of results obtained for the barrow Sugokleyska mogila in Kirowograd [Nikolova, Kaiser 2009;Nikolova 2012] supported by dendrochronological dating results [Heußner 2009] .…”

The freshwater reservoir effect in radiocarbon dating

“…This type of sample is called terrestrial. If a sample obtains its carbon from another reservoir with a lower 14 C level than the atmosphere, the basic assumption is no longer valid. The measured ages can be too old.…”

“…The most common cause of high apparent ages in freshwater systems is the presence of dissolved ancient carbonates, leading to the so-called hardwater effect. Under closed system conditions, calcite dissolution by carbonic acid leads to a 50% dilution of the 14 C concentration [1,2], causing a maximum FRE of one half-life of 14 C, about 5,370 years. Under open system conditions, water DIC is continuously exchanging with the infinite reservoir of 14 C-active soil CO 2 , causing no reservoir offset.…”

“…However, it took several decades before the FRE was measured and discussed in archaeologically relevant sample types, such as human bones [9][10][11][12][13][14] or food crusts on pottery [15][16][17][18]. In these cases, the consumption or preparation of large amounts of freshwater fish lead to spurious apparent ages of the bones and pottery.…”

Evaluating the Reliability of AMS Dates on Food Residue on Pottery from the Late Prehistoric Central Plains of North America

“…Age offsets are most notable in Mesolithic contexts, where aquatic products (fish and crustaceans, herein glossed as fish) are attested for the specific foodcrust samples or at least are likely in the sampled cultural context. In contrast, age assays on residue from Neolithic and Bronze Age context, where fish is not attested, usually are consistent with context dates (Timofeev et al 1995;Hallgren and Possnert 1997;Kriiska et al 2005;Shishlina et al 2007). …”