Accurate compound-specific 14C dating of archaeological pottery vessels

Emmanuelle Casanova, Timothy D. J. Knowles, Alex Bayliss, Julie Dunne, Marek Z. Barański, Anthony Denaire, Philippe Lefranc, Savino di Lernia, Mélanie Roffet-Salque, Jessica Smyth, Alistair Barclay, Toby Gillard, Erich Claßen, 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 and Richard P. Evershed ()
Additional contact information
Emmanuelle Casanova: University of Bristol
Timothy D. J. Knowles: University of Bristol
Alex Bayliss: Historic England
Julie Dunne: University of Bristol
Marek Z. Barański: Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk
Anthony Denaire: University of Burgundy/UMR 6298 ARTEHIS
Philippe Lefranc: University of Strasbourg UMR 7044/INRAP
Savino di Lernia: Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità, Sapienza, Università di Roma
Mélanie Roffet-Salque: University of Bristol
Jessica Smyth: University of Bristol
Alistair Barclay: Cotswold Archaeology
Toby Gillard: University of Bristol
Erich Claßen: LVR-State Service for Archaeological Heritage
Bryony Coles: University of Exeter
Michael Ilett: Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, UMR 8215 Trajectoires
Christian Jeunesse: University of Strasbourg, UMR7044, MISHA
Marta Krueger: Adam Mickiewicz University
Arkadiusz Marciniak: Adam Mickiewicz University
Steve Minnitt: Taunton Castle
Rocco Rotunno: Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità, Sapienza, Università di Roma
Pieter van de Velde: Archaeological Research Leiden
Ivo van Wijk: Leiden University
Jonathan Cotton: Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA)
Andy Daykin: Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA)
Richard P. Evershed: University of Bristol

Nature, 2020, vol. 580, issue 7804, 506-510

Abstract: 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 using the radiocarbon dating method has proven extremely challenging owing to the limited survival of organic temper and unreliability of visible residues2–4. Here we report a method to directly date archaeological pottery based on accelerator mass spectrometry analysis of 14C in absorbed food residues using palmitic (C16:0) and stearic (C18:0) fatty acids purified by preparative gas chromatography5–8. We present 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 that contained previously determined radiocarbon dates on other materials11–15. Notably, the compound-specific dates from 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: (1) the period of use of pottery; (2) the antiquity of organic residues, including when specific foodstuffs were exploited; (3) the chronology of sites in the absence of traditionally datable materials; and (4) direct verification of pottery typochronologies. Here we used the method to date the exploitation of dairy and carcass products in Neolithic vessels from Britain, Anatolia, central and western Europe, and Saharan Africa.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2178-z

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