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When 14C Dates Fall Beyond the Limits of Uncertainty: An Assessment of Anomalies in Western Mediterranean Bronze Age 14C Series

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2016

Vicente Lull ,
Rafael Micó ,
Cristina Rihuete-Herrada  and
Roberto Risch
Vicente Lull
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Rafael Micó*
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Cristina Rihuete-Herrada
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Roberto Risch
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
*
1.Corresponding author. Email: Rafael.Mico@uab.cat.
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Abstract

The aim of this article is to bring to light a serious problem affecting radiocarbon dates produced at least from 2009 onwards by the AMS Leibniz laboratory at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität (Kiel, Germany). Archaeological observations and cross-checkings between several laboratories confirm that in a significant number of dates, clear deviations of the results from chronological schemes based on stratigraphical sequences and hundreds of measurements have occurred, which usually implies an aging of the 14C values.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 57 , Issue 5 , 2015 , pp. 1029 - 1040
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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