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Spatial Variation in the Marine Radiocarbon Reservoir Effect Throughout the Scottish Post-Roman to Late Medieval Period: North Sea Values (500–1350 BP)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

N Russell ,
G T Cook ,
P L Ascough  and
A J Dugmore
N Russell
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Rankine Avenue, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride G75 0QF, Scotland.
G T Cook
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Rankine Avenue, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride G75 0QF, Scotland.
P L Ascough
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, Rankine Avenue, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride G75 0QF, Scotland.
A J Dugmore
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Old High School, Infirmary Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9XP, Scotland
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Abstract

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The marine radiocarbon reservoir effect (MRE) occurs as a spatially and temporally dependent variable owing to localized changes in oceanic water composition. This study investigates ΔR values (deviations from the global average MRE whose ΔR = 0) during the period 500–1350 BP for the east coast of Scotland, where a complex estuarine system exists that drains into the semi-enclosed North Sea basin. Due to the availability of suitable archaeological samples, the data set has a distinct Medieval focus that spans the area from Aberdeen in the north to East Lothian in the south. Many of the ΔR values are not significantly different from 0 (the global average), but there are occasional excursions to negative values (max –172 ± 20) indicating the presence of younger water. These values show greater variability compared to other published data for this general region, suggesting that considerable care must be taken when dating marine derived samples from archaeological sites on the east coast of Scotland.

Type
Marine
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 52 , Issue 3: 20th Int. Radiocarbon Conference Proceedings , 2010 , pp. 1166 - 1181
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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