Understanding the variability in freshwater radiocarbon reservoir offsets: a cautionary tale

Keaveney, Evelyn; Reimer, Paula J.

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.12.025

Cited by 129 publications

(143 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…fish from different lakes [13]. Also in archaeological fish bone from England, a time and space variable FRE has been measured [27]. Early Neolithic fish bones from Åkonge, Denmark, have a broad FRE range as well: 115-480 14 C years [16].…”

Section: Aquatic Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The freshwater reservoir effect in radiocarbon dating

2013

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The freshwater reservoir effect can result in anomalously old radiocarbon ages of samples from lakes and rivers. This includes the bones of people whose subsistence was based on freshwater fish, and pottery in which fish was cooked. Water rich in dissolved ancient calcium carbonates, commonly known as hard water, is the most common reason for the freshwater reservoir effect. It is therefore also called hardwater effect. Although it has been known for more than 60 years, it is still less well-recognized by archaeologists than the marine reservoir effect. The aim of this study is to examine the order of magnitude and degree of variability of the freshwater reservoir effect over short and long timescales. Radiocarbon dating of recent water samples, aquatic plants, and animals, shows that age differences of up to 2000 14 C years can occur within one river. The freshwater reservoir effect has also implications for radiocarbon dating of Mesolithic pottery from inland sites of the Ertebølle culture in Northern Germany. The surprisingly old ages of the earliest pottery most probably are caused by a freshwater reservoir effect. In a sediment core from the Limfjord, northern Denmark, the impact of the freshwater reservoir effect on radiocarbon dating in an estuarine environment is examined. Here, freshwater influence causes reservoir ages to vary between 250 and 700 14 C years during the period 5400 BC -AD 700. The examples in this study show clearly that the freshwater reservoir effect can seriously corrupt radiocarbon dating at inland sites. Reservoir effects should therefore be considered whenever food remains on pottery or the bones of omnivores are radiocarbon dated -irrespective of the site's distance to the coast.

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Section: Aquatic Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Freshwater reservoir effects can vary significantly within one lake or river [18,25,26], even when only regarding submerged plants [26], or a single fish species from one lake [27]. Furthermore, the FRE influences radiocarbon dating in fjords and estuaries and can lead to site and time specific reservoir ages [28][29][30].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The freshwater reservoir effect in radiocarbon dating

2013

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“…The majority of FRE research has focussed on Europe (Cook et al 2001(Cook et al , 2002Fischer and Heinemeier 2003;Olsen et al 2010;Keaveney and Reimer 2012;Lougheed et al 2013;Fernandes et al 2014;Meadows et al 2016) and North America (Ingram and Southon 1996;Goodfriend and Flessa 1997;Culleton 2006), and only recently has the importance of freshwater reservoir effects been highlighted for Russia and the Eurasian steppe zone, including the upper Lena River and Lake Baikal region (Nomokonova et al 2013;Schulting et al 2014Schulting et al , 2015, Caspian steppes and lower Don River (Shishlina et al 2007(Shishlina et al , 2009(Shishlina et al , 2012(Shishlina et al , 2014Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute et al 2015), middle and lower reaches of the Dnieper River (Lillie et al 2009), NorthEastern Kazakhstan (Svyatko et al 2015), Sertejka River in Smolensk Oblast (Kulkova et al 2015) and Kubenskoye Lake in Vologda Oblast (Wood et al 2013). The main finding from this research is that freshwater reservoir effects are extremely variable geographically (spanning from zero to several thousand years), and that when dealing with archaeological human remains Beach population thought to be affected by a FRE must be examined individually^ (Wood et al 2013, p. 163).…”

Section: The Fre In Eurasiamentioning

confidence: 99%

A lack of freshwater reservoir effects in human radiocarbon dates in the Eneolithic to Iron Age in the Minusinsk Basin

Svyatko

Polyakov

Ogle

et al. 2016

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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A number of recent studies have highlighted the importance of freshwater reservoir effects (FRE) when dating human remains across large parts of Eurasia, including the Eurasian steppes. Here, we address this question in the context of the Early Bronze Age (Okunevo), Late Bronze Age (Karasuk) and Late Iron Age (Tashtyk culture) of the Minusinsk Basin, Southern Siberia. The issue is important given the large number of radiocarbon dates that have been published on human remains here, which have been used both to refine the cultural historical sequence (Svyatko et al. 2009), as well as to suggest a date of ca. 1400 BC for the appearance of millet agriculture (Svyatko et al. 2013). In these studies, it was argued that there was little or no freshwater reservoir effect to take into account, despite the likely consumption of freshwater fish. Subsequent work across the steppe raised a legitimate question concerning this assumption. Here, we present the first set of paired dates on late prehistoric humans and terrestrial fauna from the Minusinsk Basin, as well as data from modern fish for the region. The results, with one exception, show no clear evidence for a reservoir effect, with the human-fauna difference averaging −31 ± 95 14 C years. Yet, dating of modern fish from the Yenisei River and its tributary Karasuk River does show a variable but significant FRE. Either this effect has changed radically over time, or the contribution of fish to human diets in the Minusinsk Basin was less than previously thought.

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“…The extent of the FRE in most regions is closely related to the geological composition of the underlying bedrock. High correlation between the FRE and carbonate alkalinity has been demonstrated for modern lakes in Britain and Ireland (Keaveney and Reimer 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Freshwater Reservoir Effect on Redating of Eurasian Steppe Cultures: First Results for Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age Northeast Kazakhstan

2015

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Abstract:Freshwater reservoir effects (FRE) can cause a major problem with radiocarbon dating human skeletal material in the Eurasian steppe. We present the first results of research into the extent of the FRE in the sites of Borly 4 (Eneolithic), and Shauke 1 and 8b (Early Bronze Age), North-Eastern Kazakhstan. AMS C dates from aquatic and human samples from the area need to be interpreted with caution as they are likely to be affected by the offset (i.e. appear older).The paper also discusses the effect of a sodium hydroxide (NaOH) wash on δ 13 C, δ 15 N, C:Natomic levels and collagen yields of the bone samples. Our results indicate a minor but significant effect of NaOH treatment only on C:Natomic ratios of the samples.

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Understanding the variability in freshwater radiocarbon reservoir offsets: a cautionary tale

Cited by 129 publications

References 69 publications

The freshwater reservoir effect in radiocarbon dating

The freshwater reservoir effect in radiocarbon dating

A lack of freshwater reservoir effects in human radiocarbon dates in the Eneolithic to Iron Age in the Minusinsk Basin

Freshwater Reservoir Effect on Redating of Eurasian Steppe Cultures: First Results for Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age Northeast Kazakhstan

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