Amino acid geochronology: its impact on our understanding of the Quaternary stratigraphy of the British Isles

Abstract

This review aims to act as a brief primer to amino acid racemization and protein breakdown, as well as to document the major applications and results of amino acid dating on British Quaternary sediments. Amino acid results from fossil shells have had far-reaching effects in developing our current understanding of British Quaternary stratigraphy and its links to continental Europe and the marine record. To appreciate the potential for amino acid geochronology, the technique's limitations and recent developments are discussed, as well as the future of the field.

An enhanced record of MIS 9 environments, geochronology and geoarchaeology: data from construction of the High Speed 1 (London–Channel Tunnel) rail-link and other recent investigations at Purfleet, Essex, UK

“…A refined methodology for amino acid dating has been developed (Penkman, 2005(Penkman, , 2009Penkman et al, 2007;2008a, 2010 that allows the distinction between amino acids within the crystalline structure of shells and both inter-crystalline and exogenous amino acids. These 'intracrystalline' amino acids behave as a closed system; they are less susceptible to post-mortem contamination and leaching, both of which would compromise their utility for dating.…”

Integrated chronological control on an archaeologically significant Pleistocene river terrace sequence: the Thames-Medway, eastern Essex, England

“…Amino acid racemisation (AAR) analyses were also undertaken in the Solent / Sussex work, but a lack of comparable terrestrial mollusc material between sites made the results of little use for building a regional chronology (Bates et al, 2004;Collins and Penkman, 2004). AAR too is a method where recent advances in sample selection, preparation and analysis have greatly increased its utility (see Penkman, 2010). The aim of the Medway Valley Palaeolithic Project (MVPP), funded by the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund through English Heritage, was to extend the successful methodology applied to the Solent to developing an improved framework for Thames-Medway Pleistocene terrace deposits in both Essex (Wenban-Smith et al, 2007a;Schwenninger et al, 2007;Penkman et al, 2007) and Kent (Wenban-Smith et al, 2007b), in relation to the archaeological record from these regions.…”

Interglacial climates: Advances in our understanding of warm climate episodes

“…First, we discuss the characterization of the environments of multiple interglacial episodes from long, continuous sequences in both the Mediterranean (Tzedakis et al, 2006) and Antarctica (EPICA Community, 2004;Fischer et al, 2010, and references therein). Second, we review the increased resolution of the British Quaternary record, which now allows direct correlations to be made between the terrestrial record of northwest Europe and the global record of marine/ice core sequences (Bridgland, 2000;Candy and Schreve, 2007;Penkman, 2010;Schreve and Thomas, 2001). This means that the detailed palaeoenvironmental evidence contained within British interglacial deposits can be reliably correlated with interglacial episodes recorded in marine and ice core records, allowing us to understand in greater detail how northwest Europe responded to different periods of climate warming.…”