A comparative study was undertaken to adopt and evaluate a radiocarbon (14C) preparation procedure for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) measurements of cremated bones at our laboratory, including different types of archaeological samples (cremated bone, bone, charcoal, charred grain). All 14C analyses were performed using the EnvironMICADAS AMS instrument at the Hertelendi Laboratory of Environmental Studies (HEKAL) and the ancillary analyses were also performed at the Institute for Nuclear Research (ATOMKI). After the physical and chemical cleaning of cremated bones, CO2 was extracted by acid hydrolysis followed by sealed-tube graphitization and 14C measurement. The supplementary δ13C measurements were also performed on CO2 gas while FTIR was measured on the powder fraction. Based on the FTIR and 14C analyses, our chemical pretreatment protocol was successful in removing contamination from the samples. Good reproducibility was obtained for the 0.2–0.3 mm fraction of blind-tested cremated samples and a maximum age difference of only 150 yr was found for the remaining case studies. This confirms the reliability of our procedure for 14C dating of cremated bones. However, in one case study, the age difference of 300 yr between two cremated fragments originating from the same urn shows that other processes affecting the cremated samples in the post-burial environment can substantially influence the 14C age, so caution must be exercised.
The 29 individuals found in 27 graves at Nagycenk were buried there in the time period between 2000-1700 BC, according to radiocarbon dates-i.e. at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age in Hungary. The cemetery is of unique importance, both because of the richness of burial assemblages (altogether 30 bronze objects, 5 gold jewelries) and the scarcity of known Gáta-Wieselburg cemeteries. 15 percent of the ca. 180 burials in total, which relate to this culture in Hungary, are in this cemetery, and because of the few published burial sites, the cemetery at Nagycenk represents about one fourth of the materials published so far in the whole distribution area of the culture. Pottery style, typology and raw material of metal artefacts, as well as the radiocarbon dates (with the earliest among the published radiocarbon dates in context of this culture) support the dating of the cemetery section to the early phase of the Gáta-Wieselburg culture. The oval arrangement of burials around grave 55 and grave 1 suggest that each of these correspond to a household of high status men representing a few generations of the population living in the settlement excavated in the vicinity of Nagycenk.
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