Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T03:55:55.744Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

14C Dating of the Lime Burial of Cova de Na Dent (Mallorca, Spain): Optimization of the Sample Preparation and Limitations of the Method

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Mark van Strydonck ,
Roald Hayen ,
Mathieu Boudin ,
Tess van den Brande ,
Magdalena Salas Burguera ,
Damià Ramis ,
Herlinde Borms  and
Guy De Mulder
Mark van Strydonck*
Affiliation:
Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Jubelpark 1, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
Roald Hayen
Affiliation:
Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Jubelpark 1, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
Mathieu Boudin
Affiliation:
Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Jubelpark 1, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tess van den Brande
Affiliation:
Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Jubelpark 1, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
Magdalena Salas Burguera
Affiliation:
Museum of Manacor's History, Carretera Cales de Mallorca km. 1,5, 07500 Manacor, Balearic Islands, Spain
Damià Ramis
Affiliation:
Natural History Society of the Balearics, Margarida Xirgú 16, 07011 Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain
Herlinde Borms
Affiliation:
Antwerp Society for Roman Archaeology (AVRA), Groenenborgerlaan 35, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
Guy De Mulder
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Ghent University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 35, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
*
Corresponding author. Email: mark.vanstrydonck@kikirpa.be.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Lime burials are a characteristic phenomenon of the protohistoric funerary tradition on the Balearic Islands. At Cova de Na Dent, six samples, representing the entire stratigraphy of the lime burial, were taken for analysis. The radiocarbon dates suggested that the lowest levels of the burial were Late Bronze Age. This is in contradiction with the general belief that the lime burials are a late Iron Age phenomenon. Therefore, a new analysis strategy is put forward, focusing on the so-called 1st fraction, the first CO2 released during the acid lime reaction, which is supposed to be free of fossil carbon. The analysis demonstrates the impossibility to eliminate the fossil carbon fraction completely. This is probably due to the different geological formation of the local limestone deposits (ancient reef barriers) compared to the previous lime burials of Mallorca all coming from mountain areas. 14C analysis from a cremation layer without lime at the onset of the lime burial reveals an Iron Age origin of the Cova de Na Dent lime burial.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 57 , Issue 1 , 2015 , pp. 161 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boudin, M, Van den Brande, T, Synal, H-A, Wacker, L, Van Strydonck, M. Forthcoming. RICH – a new AMS facility at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Brussels, Belgium. In: Proceedings of AMS-13. Aix-en-Provence 2014. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B.Google Scholar
Castro Martnínez, PV, Gili Suriñach, S, González Marcén, P, Lull, V, Micó Perez, R, Rihuete Herrada, C. 1997. Radiocarbon dating and the prehistory of the Balearic Islands. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 63:55–86.Google Scholar
De Mulder, G, Van Strydonck, M. 2012. Un descubrimiento imprevisto nueveos hallazgos de cerámica en Son Matge. BSAL (Bolletí de la Societal Arqueològica Lulbliana) 68:15–26.Google Scholar
De Mulder, G, Hayen, R, Boudin, M, Van den Brande, T, Decq, L, Salas Burguera, M, Ramis, D, Borms, H, Van Strydonck, M. 2014. 14C dating and material analysis of the lime burial of Cova de Na Dent (Mallorca, Spain). Radiocarbon 56(2):387–98.Google Scholar
Lindroos, A, Heinemeier, J, Ringbom, Å, Braskén, M, Sveinbjörnsdóttir, Á. 2007. Mortar dating using AMS 14C and sequential dissolution: examples from medieval, non-hydraulic lime mortars from the Åland Islands, SW Finland. Radiocarbon 49(1):47–67.Google Scholar
Micó Pérez, R. 2005. Cronologià absoluta y periodización de la prehistoria de las Islas Baleares. BAR International Series 1373. Oxford: Tempus Reparatum.Google Scholar
Micó Pérez, R. 2006. Radiocarbon dating and Balearic prehistory: reviewing the periodization of the prehistoric sequence. Radiocarbon 48(3):421–34.Google Scholar
Pomar, L, Esteban, M, Calvet, F, Baron, A. 1983. La unidad arrecifal del Miocene superior de Mallorca. In: El Terciaro de las Baleares (Mallorca-Menorca), Guia de las Excursiones. 10th Congress Nac. Sedim. Menorca. University Palma de Mallorca. p 139–75.Google Scholar
Van Strydonck, M, van der Borg, K. 1990/1991. The construction of a preparation line for AMS-targets at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage Brussels. Bulletin van het Koninklijk Instituut voor het Kunstpatrimonium 23:228–34.Google Scholar
Van Strydonck, M, Waldren, WH. 1995. Radiocarbon dating of the Son Matge rock shelter. In: Waldren, WH, Ensenyat, JA, Kennard, RC, editors. Ritual, Rites and Religion in Prehistory. IIIrd Deya International Conference of Prehistory. BAR International Series 611, Volume I. Oxford: Tempus Reparatum. p 164–82.Google Scholar
Van Strydonck, M, Dupas, M, Dauchot-Dehon, M, Pachiaudi, C, Maréchal, J. 1982/1983. A further step in the radiocarbon dating of old mortars. Bulletin van het Koninklijk Instituut voor het Kunstpatrimonium 19:155–71.Google Scholar
Van Strydonck, M, Boudin, M, Decq, L, Van Den Brande, T, Borms, H, Ramis, D, De Mulder, G. 2011. AMS 14C dating of Balearic lime burials. Radiocarbon 53(4):563–74.Google Scholar
Van Strydonck, M, De Mulder, G, Ramis, D. Forthcoming. Las Enterramient Protohistóricas en cal de las Islas Baleares: Cremasión o inhumación. Proceedings of the VI Jornades d'Arqueologia de les Illes Balears. Formentera 26–28 September 2014. Consell de Formentera.Google Scholar
Van Strydonck, M, Decq, L, Van den Brande, T, Boudin, M, Ramis, D, Borms, H, De Mulder, G. In press. The Protohistoric “quicklime burials” from the Balearic islands: cremation or inhumation. Osteoarchaeology. DOI: 10.1002/oa.2307.Google Scholar