British Museum Natural Radiocarbon Measurements XXII

Abstract

The following list consists of dates, obtained by liquid scintillation counting of benzene, for archaeologic samples mostly measured between June 1987 and October 1989.Charcoal and grain samples were pretreated with 1M HCl followed by washing in water and, where considered necessary, with dilute alkali for the removal of humic acids. Wood samples were treated either in the same way, or, where large enough, were reduced to cellulose by the action of chlorine dioxide produced in situ. All antler and bone samples were treated with cold dilute acid. The term ‘collagen’ is used throughout to mean the acid insoluble organic fraction produced by this treatment. Peat samples were treated with dilute acid and alkali to separate the humin and humic acid fractions, which were dated individually.