Accurate compound-specific 14C dating of archaeological pottery vessels

Emmanuelle J A Casanova; Timothy D J Knowles; Alex  Bayliss; Julie B Dunne; Marek Z Baranski; Anthony  Denaire; Philippe  Lefranc; Savino  di Lernia; Mélanie Roffet-Salque; Jessica  Smyth; Alistair Barclay; Toby Gillard; Erich  Claβe; Bryony  Coles; Michael     Ilett; Christian   Jeunesse; Marta  Krueger; Arkadiusz   Marciniak; Steve   Minnitt; Rocco  Rotunno; Pieter  van de Velde; Ivo  van Wijk; Jonathan   Cotton; Andy  Daykin; Richard P Evershed

doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2178-z

Accurate compound-specific 14C dating of archaeological pottery vessels

Emmanuelle J A Casanova
, Timothy D J Knowles
, Alex Bayliss
, Julie B Dunne
, Marek Z Baranski
, Anthony Denaire
, Philippe Lefranc
, Savino di Lernia
, Mélanie Roffet-Salque
, Jessica Smyth
, Alistair Barclay
, Toby Gillard
, Erich Claβe
, Bryony Coles
, Michael Ilett
, Christian Jeunesse
, Marta Krueger
, Arkadiusz Marciniak
, Steve Minnitt
, Rocco Rotunno

Pieter van de Velde, Ivo van Wijk, Jonathan Cotton, Andy Daykin, Richard P Evershed^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

85 Citations (Scopus)

264 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Pottery is one of the most commonly recovered artefacts from archaeological sites. Despite more than a century of relative dating based on typology and seriation1, accurate dating of pottery by the radiocarbon method has proven extremely challenging due to the limited survival of organic temper and unreliability of visible residues2-4. We report here a new method of dating directly archaeological pottery based on accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) analysis of 14C in absorbed food residues: palmitic (C16:0) and stearic
(C18:0) fatty acids purified by preparative gas chromatography (pcGC)5-8. We present the first accurate compound-specific radiocarbon determinations of lipids extracted from pottery vessels, which were rigorously evaluated by comparison with dendrochronological dates9,10 and inclusion in site and regional chronologies containing suites of radiocarbon dates on other materials11-15. Critically, the compound-specific datesfrom each of the C16:0 and C18:0 fatty acids in pottery vessels provide an internal quality
control of the results6 and, are entirely compatible with dates for other commonly dated materials. Accurate radiocarbon dating of pottery vessels can reveal: (i) the period of use of pottery; (ii) the antiquity of organic residues including when specific foodstuffs were exploited; (iii) sites chronologies in the absence of traditionally datable materials and (iv) direct verification of pottery typochronologies. As exemplars, the method was applied to the dating of dairy and carcass product exploitation in Neolithic vessels, from Britain, Anatolia, central and western Europe, and Saharan Africa.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	506–510
Number of pages	5
Journal	Nature
Volume	580
Early online date	8 Apr 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2178-z
Publication status	Published - 23 Apr 2020

Research Groups and Themes

Organic & Biological

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10.1038/s41586-020-2178-z

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Professor Richard P Evershed
- R.P.Evershedbristol.acuk
- School of Chemistry - Professor
- Cabot Institute for the Environment
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Casanova, E. J. A., Knowles, T. D. J., Bayliss, A., Dunne, J. B., Baranski, M. Z., Denaire, A., Lefranc, P., di Lernia, S., Roffet-Salque, M., Smyth, J., Barclay, A., Gillard, T., Claβe, E., Coles, B., Ilett, M., Jeunesse, C., Krueger, M., Marciniak, A., Minnitt, S., ... Evershed, R. P. (2020). Accurate compound-specific 14C dating of archaeological pottery vessels. Nature, 580, 506–510. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2178-z

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title = "Accurate compound-specific 14C dating of archaeological pottery vessels",

abstract = "Pottery is one of the most commonly recovered artefacts from archaeological sites. Despite more than a century of relative dating based on typology and seriation1, accurate dating of pottery by the radiocarbon method has proven extremely challenging due to the limited survival of organic temper and unreliability of visible residues2-4. We report here a new method of dating directly archaeological pottery based on accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) analysis of 14C in absorbed food residues: palmitic (C16:0) and stearic (C18:0) fatty acids purified by preparative gas chromatography (pcGC)5-8. We present the first accurate compound-specific radiocarbon determinations of lipids extracted from pottery vessels, which were rigorously evaluated by comparison with dendrochronological dates9,10 and inclusion in site and regional chronologies containing suites of radiocarbon dates on other materials11-15. Critically, the compound-specific datesfrom each of the C16:0 and C18:0 fatty acids in pottery vessels provide an internal quality control of the results6 and, are entirely compatible with dates for other commonly dated materials. Accurate radiocarbon dating of pottery vessels can reveal: (i) the period of use of pottery; (ii) the antiquity of organic residues including when specific foodstuffs were exploited; (iii) sites chronologies in the absence of traditionally datable materials and (iv) direct verification of pottery typochronologies. As exemplars, the method was applied to the dating of dairy and carcass product exploitation in Neolithic vessels, from Britain, Anatolia, central and western Europe, and Saharan Africa. ",

author = "Casanova, \{Emmanuelle J A\} and Knowles, \{Timothy D J\} and Alex Bayliss and Dunne, \{Julie B\} and Baranski, \{Marek Z\} and Anthony Denaire and Philippe Lefranc and \{di Lernia\}, Savino and M{\'e}lanie Roffet-Salque and Jessica Smyth and Alistair Barclay and Toby Gillard and Erich Claβe and Bryony Coles and Michael Ilett and Christian Jeunesse and Marta Krueger and Arkadiusz Marciniak and Steve Minnitt and Rocco Rotunno and \{van de Velde\}, Pieter and \{van Wijk\}, Ivo and Jonathan Cotton and Andy Daykin and Evershed, \{Richard P\}",

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month = apr,

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doi = "10.1038/s41586-020-2178-z",

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Casanova, EJA, Knowles, TDJ, Bayliss, A, Dunne, JB, Baranski, MZ, Denaire, A, Lefranc, P, di Lernia, S, Roffet-Salque, M, Smyth, J, Barclay, A, Gillard, T, Claβe, E, Coles, B, Ilett, M, Jeunesse, C, Krueger, M, Marciniak, A, Minnitt, S, Rotunno, R, van de Velde, P, van Wijk, I, Cotton, J, Daykin, A & Evershed, RP 2020, 'Accurate compound-specific 14C dating of archaeological pottery vessels', Nature, vol. 580, pp. 506–510. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2178-z

TY - JOUR

T1 - Accurate compound-specific 14C dating of archaeological pottery vessels

AU - Casanova, Emmanuelle J A

AU - Knowles, Timothy D J

AU - Bayliss, Alex

AU - Dunne, Julie B

AU - Baranski, Marek Z

AU - Denaire, Anthony

AU - Lefranc, Philippe

AU - di Lernia, Savino

AU - Roffet-Salque, Mélanie

AU - Smyth, Jessica

AU - Barclay, Alistair

AU - Gillard, Toby

AU - Claβe, Erich

AU - Coles, Bryony

AU - Ilett, Michael

AU - Jeunesse, Christian

AU - Krueger, Marta

AU - Marciniak, Arkadiusz

AU - Minnitt, Steve

AU - Rotunno, Rocco

AU - van de Velde, Pieter

AU - van Wijk, Ivo

AU - Cotton, Jonathan

AU - Daykin, Andy

AU - Evershed, Richard P

PY - 2020/4/23

Y1 - 2020/4/23

N2 - Pottery is one of the most commonly recovered artefacts from archaeological sites. Despite more than a century of relative dating based on typology and seriation1, accurate dating of pottery by the radiocarbon method has proven extremely challenging due to the limited survival of organic temper and unreliability of visible residues2-4. We report here a new method of dating directly archaeological pottery based on accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) analysis of 14C in absorbed food residues: palmitic (C16:0) and stearic (C18:0) fatty acids purified by preparative gas chromatography (pcGC)5-8. We present the first accurate compound-specific radiocarbon determinations of lipids extracted from pottery vessels, which were rigorously evaluated by comparison with dendrochronological dates9,10 and inclusion in site and regional chronologies containing suites of radiocarbon dates on other materials11-15. Critically, the compound-specific datesfrom each of the C16:0 and C18:0 fatty acids in pottery vessels provide an internal quality control of the results6 and, are entirely compatible with dates for other commonly dated materials. Accurate radiocarbon dating of pottery vessels can reveal: (i) the period of use of pottery; (ii) the antiquity of organic residues including when specific foodstuffs were exploited; (iii) sites chronologies in the absence of traditionally datable materials and (iv) direct verification of pottery typochronologies. As exemplars, the method was applied to the dating of dairy and carcass product exploitation in Neolithic vessels, from Britain, Anatolia, central and western Europe, and Saharan Africa.

AB - Pottery is one of the most commonly recovered artefacts from archaeological sites. Despite more than a century of relative dating based on typology and seriation1, accurate dating of pottery by the radiocarbon method has proven extremely challenging due to the limited survival of organic temper and unreliability of visible residues2-4. We report here a new method of dating directly archaeological pottery based on accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) analysis of 14C in absorbed food residues: palmitic (C16:0) and stearic (C18:0) fatty acids purified by preparative gas chromatography (pcGC)5-8. We present the first accurate compound-specific radiocarbon determinations of lipids extracted from pottery vessels, which were rigorously evaluated by comparison with dendrochronological dates9,10 and inclusion in site and regional chronologies containing suites of radiocarbon dates on other materials11-15. Critically, the compound-specific datesfrom each of the C16:0 and C18:0 fatty acids in pottery vessels provide an internal quality control of the results6 and, are entirely compatible with dates for other commonly dated materials. Accurate radiocarbon dating of pottery vessels can reveal: (i) the period of use of pottery; (ii) the antiquity of organic residues including when specific foodstuffs were exploited; (iii) sites chronologies in the absence of traditionally datable materials and (iv) direct verification of pottery typochronologies. As exemplars, the method was applied to the dating of dairy and carcass product exploitation in Neolithic vessels, from Britain, Anatolia, central and western Europe, and Saharan Africa.

U2 - 10.1038/s41586-020-2178-z

DO - 10.1038/s41586-020-2178-z

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

C2 - 32322061

SN - 0028-0836

VL - 580

SP - 506

EP - 510

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

ER -

Accurate compound-specific 14C dating of archaeological pottery vessels

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