Preliminary Statement on an Error in British Museum Radiocarbon Dates (BM-1700 to BM-2315)

Tite, M. S.; Bowman, Sheridan; Ambers, Janet; Matthews, Keith

doi:10.1017/s0033822200044003

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…The date is visibly younger than BM-1365. It is possible that the excessively young date was a result of sample contamination reported for some other Abu Salabikh samples (Tite et al 1987, Bowman et al 1990). • BM-2328R: 4010 +/− 130 BP: charcoal; Main Mound, Area A, Room 28 (corridor); According to the publication (Postgate 1984: 98-100), the sample came from above an "ED II" pottery assemblage, characterised especially by hollow fruit stands.…”

Section: Main Mound Area Ementioning

confidence: 97%

Abu Salabikh – Absolute Radiocarbon Chronology

Wencel¹

2021

Iraq

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This article presents a new absolute chronology for the archaeological site of Abu Salabikh, Southern Iraq, during the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. The main goals of this study were to synchronise the sequences of the West and Main Mounds, corroborating the dating schemes based on archaeological and textual finds, and assigning an absolute date to the transition between Uruk and Early Dynastic (ED) periods. Previously published dates and newly produced 14C measurements were used in tandem with Bayesian statistical models to arrive at more precise time estimates. Some inconsistencies in the results point to possible disturbance of the archaeological sequence in the context of tannur kilns and highlight the need for careful sample collection and selection methodology. The results suggest a hiatus in settlement between the Uruk and ED periods c. 3000 BC, and confirm the date of c. 2650-2500 BC for the Early Dynastic ED IIIa Fara-style texts.

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Section: Main Mound Area Ementioning

confidence: 97%

Abu Salabikh – Absolute Radiocarbon Chronology

Wencel¹

2021

Iraq

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“…In light of successive Glasgow University intercomparison studies (International Study Group 1982;Scott et al 1990), it has become uncomfortably apparent that laboratory reliability and precision have been widely overestimated in the past. This lesson has been particularly learned at the BM Laboratory, where analysis of the results of the first Glasgow study was, at least partially, responsible for the identification of an error, and the withdrawal, recalculation and, where possible, re-issue of some 470 results produced between 1980and 1984(Tite et al 1988. The reasons for this error, and the way in which the revised figures were generated, is published fully (Bowman, Ambers & Leese 1990) and will not be repeated here, but its salutary effect can easily be imagined.…”

Section: Laboratory Reliability Accuracy and Precisionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiocarbon Results for the British Beakers

et al. 1992

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The beginning of the Bronze Age in the British Isles has traditionally been marked by the appearance, in the archaeological record, of Beaker assemblages, mainly characterized by the Beaker pottery form itself. Ceramic typologies based on this style, which is undoubtedly continental in origin, have been used both for relative dating and as evidence of the social and economic developments of the period. Systematic radiocarbon dating has been attempted for the continental European Beaker material (Lanting, Mook & van der Waals 1973), but no such program has been carried out on British material. An examination of the existing radiocarbon results for the British Beakers showed many to be flawed in some way, particularly in the use of materials, such as mature wood, where there is no a priori reason for assuming a direct relationship between sample death and context. An attempt has been made at the British Museum to test the validity of archaeologically derived chronologies for the Beaker pottery of the British Isles. This involved analysis of a group of carefully selected human bone samples from Beaker burials, where there is a known direct association between ceramic usage and the cessation of carbon exchange. Twenty such samples have been identified and measured. The results presented here, combined with other previously produced determinations, show no obvious relationship between pottery style and calendar date of deposition.

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“…General improvements to the system have been made and are summarized in Bowman and Ambers (in press). In particular, evaporation losses are guarded against, since results issued by the British Museum radiocarbon laboratory between 1980 and 1984 were in error because of such losses from moderns and backgrounds (Tite et al, 1987(Tite et al, , 1988; Bowman & Ambers, in press; a full account of the problem including revised results and details of their evaluation is in preparation) . To prevent evaporation losses, samples and standards could be flame-sealed into all glass vials.…”

Section: Evaporation Lossesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Liquid Scintillation Counting in the London Underground

Bowman

1989

Radiocarbon

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At the 12th International Radiocarbon Conference held in Trondheim, the potential of the London Underground as a site for liquid scintillation counting was considered (Bowman, 1986). This was discussed in light of a survey of three possible locations using a portable gamma-ray spectrometer. Two liquid scintillation counters, a Packard 3255 and an LKB “Kangaroo”, have now been successfully installed in a vault which is some 30m below ground. The reduction in background count rates achieved is discussed, together with other improvements made to the counting system.

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Preliminary Statement on an Error in British Museum Radiocarbon Dates (BM-1700 to BM-2315)

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.

Cited by 8 publications

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Abu Salabikh – Absolute Radiocarbon Chronology

Abu Salabikh – Absolute Radiocarbon Chronology

Radiocarbon Results for the British Beakers

Liquid Scintillation Counting in the London Underground

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