The use of summed radiocarbon probability distributions in archaeology: a review of methods

Williams, Alan N.

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.07.014

Cited by 411 publications

(411 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(98 reference statements)

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“…According to Hoffmann et al (2013), burial of organic carbon in the lower reaches of a drainage basin is often linked to erosion intensity: generally, the higher intensity of that erosion, then the more organic carbon (including a large amount of radiocarbon-depleted carbon from upstream (Raymond and Bauer, 2001)) is buried on the continental margin contemporaneously. Statistically, because non-systematically collecting/discovering multiple radiocarbon samples (from different locations) is similar to a quasi-random sample of an organic carbon reservoir (Williams, 2012), more radiocarbon samples will be sampled from locations with more abundant organic carbon (these locations have a higher probability of being sampled than in a fully randomised sampling strategy). Also, it is more likely that radiocarbon dating anomalies would occur in these layers, where a considerable amount of radiocarbon-depleted carbon, exposed by increased erosion, was redeposited.…”

Section: Radiocarbon Dates As a Source Of Palaeoenvironmental Informamentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiocarbon anomalies suggest late onset of agricultural intensification in the catchment of the southern part of the Yangtze Delta, China

Long

Hunt

Taylor

2016

CATENA

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5Holocene sediments from the southern part of the delta are unevenly distributed through 6 time. Two clusters of dates --in sediments ca. 9,000-7,000 cal. BP and ca. 3,000-1,000 cal. BP 7--most likely indicate two periods of intensive erosion and redeposition of organic materials. 8The older of the two clusters may have been associated with a marked episode of marine 9 transgression, whereas the younger cluster could reflect increasing levels of human 10 disruption of soils and sediments in the catchment. A relatively late increase in 11anthropogenic soil erosion supports recent archaeological evidence that, following its early 12Neolithic origins, agricultural expansion and intensification occurred later on the southern 13Yangtze Delta than previously thought.14 15

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Section: Radiocarbon Dates As a Source Of Palaeoenvironmental Informamentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiocarbon anomalies suggest late onset of agricultural intensification in the catchment of the southern part of the Yangtze Delta, China

Long

Hunt

Taylor

2016

CATENA

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“…7). Because 14 C calibration causes distortions in these types of probability-density plots (Williams, 2012), and because the older part of the 14 C-calibration curve is currently being updated with new Lake Suigetsu varve data (Bronk Ramsey et al, 2012), we have postponed making detailed comparisons between these probability-density graphs and global climate events.…”

Section: Temporal Patterns Of Species Abundancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…14). The Surovell equation fitted to these data describes the rise to present of geological deposits (Surovell et al, 2009;Williams, 2012).…”

Section: How Many Megafauna Were There?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ice-age megafauna in Arctic Alaska: extinction, invasion, survival

Mann

Groves

Kunz

et al. 2013

Quaternary Science Reviews

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Groves, Pamela; Kunz, Michael L.; Reanier, Richard E.; and Gaglioti, Benjamin V., "Ice-age megafauna in Arctic Alaska: extinction, invasion, survival" (2013 a b s t r a c tRadical restructuring of the terrestrial, large mammal fauna living in arctic Alaska occurred between 14,000 and 10,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age. Steppe bison, horse, and woolly mammoth became extinct, moose and humans invaded, while muskox and caribou persisted. The ice age megafauna was more diverse in species and possibly contained 6Â more individual animals than live in the region today. Megafaunal biomass during the last ice age may have been 30Â greater than present. Horse was the dominant species in terms of number of individuals. Lions, short-faced bears, wolves, and possibly grizzly bears comprised the predator/scavenger guild. The youngest mammoth so far discovered lived ca 13,800 years ago, while horses and bison persisted on the North Slope until at least 12,500 years ago during the Younger Dryas cold interval. The first people arrived on the North Slope ca 13,500 years ago. Bone-isotope measurements and foot-loading characteristics suggest megafaunal niches were segregated along a moisture gradient, with the surviving species (muskox and caribou) utilizing the warmer and moister portions of the vegetation mosaic. As the ice age ended, the moisture gradient shifted and eliminated habitats utilized by the dryland, grazing species (bison, horse, mammoth). The proximate cause for this change was regional paludification, the spread of organic soil horizons and peat. End-Pleistocene extinctions in arctic Alaska represent local, not global extinctions since the megafaunal species lost there persisted to later times elsewhere. Hunting seems unlikely as the cause of these extinctions, but it cannot be ruled out as the final blow to megafaunal populations that were already functionally extinct by the time humans arrived in the region.

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“…In this way, a time series is constructed that contains information about trends in the frequency of radiocarbon dates, which in turn becomes interpreted as a proxy measurement of past levels of activity. As many authors have pointed out, using the technique uncritically and as a direct proxy is applicable only to broad trends in very large datasets (Chiverrell et al 2011;Contreras and Meadows 2014;Williams 2012). This is because the inherently statistical nature of radiocarbon measurements, together with the non-Gaussian uncertainty introduced by the calibration process, causes artefacts in the resulting curve that could be misinterpreted as Bsignal^but are, in fact, Bnoise^.…”

Section: Summed Probabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

On Applications of Space–Time Modelling with Open-Source 14C Age Calibration

McLaughlin

2018

J Archaeol Method Theory

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In archaeology, the meta-analysis of scientific dating information plays an ever-increasing role. A common thread among many recent studies contributing to this has been the development of bespoke software for summarizing and synthesizing data, identifying significant patterns therein. These are reviewed in this paper, which also contains open-source scripts for calibrating radiocarbon dates and modelling them in space and time, using the R computer language and GRASS GIS. The case studies that undertake new analysis of archaeological data are (1) the spread of the Neolithic in Europe, (2) economic consequences of the Great Famine and Black Death in the fourteenth century Britain and Ireland and (3) the role of climate change in influencing cultural change in the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Ireland. These case studies exemplify an emerging trend in archaeology, which is quickly re-defining itself as a data-driven discipline at the intersection of science and the humanities.

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The use of summed radiocarbon probability distributions in archaeology: a review of methods

Cited by 411 publications

References 55 publications

Radiocarbon anomalies suggest late onset of agricultural intensification in the catchment of the southern part of the Yangtze Delta, China

Radiocarbon anomalies suggest late onset of agricultural intensification in the catchment of the southern part of the Yangtze Delta, China

Ice-age megafauna in Arctic Alaska: extinction, invasion, survival

On Applications of Space–Time Modelling with Open-Source 14C Age Calibration

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