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Fish based diets cause archaeological dating problems
Past Horizons ^ | March 25, 2013 | Bente Philippsen and Rasmus Rorbaek

Posted on 02/24/2015 2:46:06 AM PST by SunkenCiv

Hard water contains less Carbon-14 than the atmosphere, because dissolved carbonates are Carbon-14 free. A fish caught in hard water has thus a higher Carbon-14 age than contemporaneous terrestrial samples. If such a fish is then cooked in a ceramic pot, the radiocarbon age of the food crust will be higher than if a terrestrial animal was cooked in the pot.

This is known as the “reservoir effect” because the fish’s carbon actually comes from another “reservoir” than the carbon in terrestrial animals from the surrounding area. “Reservoir age” is the difference between the true age and the Carbon-14 date...

On examining freshly caught fish from the River Trave the results revealed not only a large reservoir effect, but also a dramatic variance from between 500 to 2100 years. In effect, this means that some of the fish swimming in the Trave today seem to be over 2000 years old, when radiocarbon dated...

It is worth noting that even charcoal from a camp fire could be another error source – the “old wood effect”: where the charcoal dated might be from the innermost ring of a 500-year-old tree which was felled 100 years before it finally ended up in the camp fire. Knowing what might cause an error is vital when it comes to dating...

The group, after making their own pots, boiled up the various ingredients – including a freshly caught fish with a Carbon-14 age of 700 years. They then succeeded in burning the meal onto the pot fabric, which was then taken for dating.

Even though the food crust was made only weeks before, Carbon-14 dating returned a 14th century date and thus provided evidence that food crusts on pottery take on the same age as the ingredients.

(Excerpt) Read more at pasthorizonspr.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs; oldwoodeffect; radiocarbondating; reservoireffect; rivertrave
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Boiling and burning fish stews onto ceramics. Image: Bente Philippsen

Boiling and burning fish stews onto ceramics. Image: Bente Philippsen

1 posted on 02/24/2015 2:46:07 AM PST by SunkenCiv
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To: SunkenCiv

Maybe so mouthwash would help.


2 posted on 02/24/2015 3:40:17 AM PST by cripplecreek ("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
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To: SunkenCiv
Knowing what might cause an error is vital when it comes to dating...

... as well as knowing IF that 'what might cause' ... has actually occurred.

3 posted on 02/24/2015 3:55:58 AM PST by dartuser
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To: SunkenCiv
Fish based diets cause archaeological dating problems

Wouldn't James Taranto headline this "The Lonely Lives of Archaelogists"?

4 posted on 02/24/2015 4:05:23 AM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (This is known as "bad luck". - Robert A. Heinlein)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

LOL


5 posted on 02/24/2015 4:12:44 AM PST by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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To: SunkenCiv

Bravo that someone challenged this scientific process and showed its flaws. Too many scientists are lazy and blindly accept “proven” testing methods as infallible. Physicist Richard Feynman regular challenged accepted truths like this. For example, he found that the popular rat maze experiment process has holes... the construction of the maze would affect the sound of the rats footsteps in certain parts of the maze and the rats were able to use that sound to navigate.

Excellent example of the fact that there is NO SETTLED SCIENCE! If we can find flaws like this in small mundane processes, how can anyone say that the global climate theories are settled science?


6 posted on 02/24/2015 4:13:39 AM PST by bigtoona
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To: cripplecreek

I sure someone out there digs the idea of dating an archaeologist.


7 posted on 02/24/2015 4:19:45 AM PST by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; ...

8 posted on 02/24/2015 4:20:31 AM PST by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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To: SunkenCiv

Any archeologist I’ve ever met couldn’t get a date...fish diet or not.


9 posted on 02/24/2015 4:20:52 AM PST by Blue Collar Christian (Ready for Teddy. Cruz, that is. Texas conservative.)
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To: SunkenCiv

I’ve seen a few I wouldn’t mind excavating.


10 posted on 02/24/2015 4:22:05 AM PST by cripplecreek ("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
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A New Way to Date Old Ceramics
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2659498/posts


11 posted on 02/24/2015 4:24:57 AM PST by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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In Horus vol II no 1, a journal published by the late David Griffard, Barry Fell was interviewed. Among other things:
We learned that seals were coming to a bad end and being mummified by nature in Antarctica in 1200 A.D. That was interesting and we wondered what was happening in Antarctica at that time...one of the technicians... noticed that a seal carcass that he himself had shot for dog-meat and that got left out through the winter... [looked] just like the mummified seals that they had been sending in. So without telling too many people what he was doing, he sent this mummified seal to be carbon-dated and do you know it was dated to 1200 A.D., and he had shot it the year before. When that was made public it really caused a storm...

12 posted on 02/24/2015 4:28:30 AM PST by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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To: SunkenCiv

So I guess that archaeologists are now working on correction factors to calibrate the carbon-dated age of sea fish, river fish, and wood.

That image is pretty disgusting, btw. If that is a stew, I don’t think I would eat it.


13 posted on 02/24/2015 4:34:58 AM PST by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

LOL! Good one.


14 posted on 02/24/2015 4:38:03 AM PST by Tax-chick (Wash, rinse, dry, put away.)
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To: cripplecreek

They should try oysters instead of fish.


15 posted on 02/24/2015 4:39:21 AM PST by Joe 6-pack (Qui me amat, amat et canem meum.)
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To: Joe 6-pack

How much of the tax payers money went into this “highly important” study?

Do I really care what diet an archaeologist consumes or if he/she gets a date? Another really high priority for all of us to “digest” (sorry couldn’t resist that word).

Sorry Freepers. I’m in a pissy mood today having read so many highly important articles.


16 posted on 02/24/2015 5:18:30 AM PST by DaveA37
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To: SunkenCiv
Fish based diets cause archaeological dating problems

I've always had problems dating archaeologists after eating fish. :-P

17 posted on 02/24/2015 5:38:01 AM PST by uglybiker (nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-BATMAN!)
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To: SunkenCiv

hmmm. Gives more credence to replicating data.


18 posted on 02/24/2015 7:55:18 AM PST by huldah1776
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To: exDemMom

That’s a fine kett- uh, never mind.


19 posted on 02/24/2015 12:22:37 PM PST by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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To: cripplecreek

Some would be found in a sift.


20 posted on 02/24/2015 12:23:16 PM PST by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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