The establishment of a dutu huse of trace element unal.ysi.s results obtained by neutron uctivation analysis of 183 marble samples. each weighing about 200mg, from eight different quarrying localities for use in provenance studies is described rind ci summuty of the results presented. The probletns o j sampling museum cirtefucts are discussed, and details of tests of the reproducibility of the technique are given together with those obtained ,from multiple-.samples froni single museum objects. Replicate nnal.vses of a marble standurd w e also discussed. Thus these data are a measure of the accuracy and precision of the technique, as well as allowing an assessment of the variation in trace element composition within quarry sources and single blocks qf marble, as used for artefacts.

Selected stable carbon isotope measurements published in Radiocarbon over a 12-year period have been abstracted, plotted, and summarized, to give more reliable estimates of the mean value and range of δ13C for five classes of natural material (human bone collagen, non-human animal bone collagen, plant materials, wood, and charcoal), and to provide a firmer base line for stable carbon isotope dietary and environmental studies.

The following list consists of dates for archaeologic and some geologic samples, mostly measured from January 1978 to December 1979. The dates were obtained by liquid scintillation counting of benzene using the laboratory procedures outlined in previous lists (see, eg, BM-VIII, R, 1976, v 18, p 16). The dates are expressed in radiocarbon years relative to ad 1950 based on the Libby half-life for 14C of 5570 yr, and are corrected for isotopic fractionation (δ13C values are relative to PDB). No corrections have been made for natural 14C variations. The modern reference standard is NBS oxalic acid (SRM 4990). Errors quoted with the dates are based on counting statistics alone and are equivalent to ± 1 standard deviation (± 1σ). Dates in this list reported to submitters or published elsewhere before the introduction of the new guidelines for rounding of computed figures have deliberately been left unrounded. From BM-XV onwards all BM dates will be rounded before publication in conformity with the recently recommended procedures (R, 1977, v 19, p 362). Descriptions, comments, and references to publications are based on information supplied by submitters.

No abstract

Notes and Comments on page 138, Taylor neglects to use BC for dates that have been adjusted to the calendar. These minor errors in an otherwise fine book merely illustrate that Murphy's Law should be added to the list of uncertainties that plague date lists.