COMPARING METHODS FOR CO2PURIFICATION OF CREMATED BONE SAMPLES

Abstract

ABSTRACTDuring the last two decades the radiocarbon (14C) dating of hydroxyapatite archaeological cremated bones has become standard practice. Various pretreatment procedures exist among different laboratories of which some include fixation of SO2using “Sulfix” prior to CO2reduction. Recently it was reported that the use of Sulfix may cause the resulting14C age to be too old. Here we report on the use Sulfix at the Aarhus AMS Centre. Further, we report on an experiment designed to test alternatives for the use of Sulfix as a purification agent.