Testing the age of compounds and organic samples.

[Richard Irving]

Is there a method for testing the age of paper compounds and organic samples to identify the year it was made after BP?

 

I understand that in testing paper, a technician would identify the constituents on a historical reference standard for paper manufacturing -- essentially what was used in the manufacturing of paper when, to conclude the date of likely manufacture by cross-referencing. However, is there a test for charcoal, could the remaining ash be somehow tested for age, and if so, how?

 

Cheers,

R

[Enthalpy]

Hi Richard, welcome here!

 

¹⁴C datation doesn't apply properly to that short timescale. I though a different isotope method fits centuries better but I didn't find which one.

For very recent items, you can search for radioactive fallouts from atmospheric bomb test. That would at least distinguish a medieval book from a recent fake.

[Richard Irving]

Hey Enthalpy, thanks for the welcome and reply.

[Enthalpy]

My answer wasn't very constructive... I hoped someone else would jump in with better proposals.

 

The ¹³C/¹²C (and ¹⁸O/¹⁶O and ²H/¹H, but ashes must miss both) proportion vary faintly over the epoch over the timescale you want. Climatologists claim to reconstruct the ancient climate from these proportions. Though, one proportion will hint at several possible periods.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_isotope_ratio_cycle

Not so good over your short time, because ground water can stay for centuries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon-13

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopic_signature#Nitrogen_isotopes

¹³C and ¹⁵N seem more sensitive to the kind of organic material than the climate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_(climate)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopic_signature

 

Found nothing. I thought an isotopic method was known for timescales shorter than ¹⁴C.

[Richard Irving]

I see your process in identifying a different Isotope method and concur with your conclusions on the examples you presented. Thank you for your more constructive follow-up.

 

From the inquiry thus far: Signals at the Köte or Köhlerhütte () therefore show nothing and ash in charcoal can be rejected for testing as unreliable. The characterizing information of chemical components in paper appears the only reliable method, in identifying the authenticity of material on the subject of what author Mr. Jonathon Keats would posit as "great art".

 

Cheers,

Richard

[Enthalpy]

I've just read about ¹⁴C giving a date around 1000 BP, so it might be useable after all. The article did not tell the accuracy, though.

[Richard Irving]

Not sure it's exhaustively relevant to this situation, but I would be interested to read the article if you have a link, Enthalpy?

 

Thanks,

Richard

Edited December 24, 2013 by Richard Irving

[Enthalpy]

If I interpret properly, these got dates around 1000BP using ¹⁴C:

http://www.bcin.ca/Interface/openbcin.cgi?submit=submit&Chinkey=177355

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4602441?uid=3737864&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21103172325027

 

Here a list of methods:

http://quizlet.com/28825730/antropology-dating-midterm-2-flash-cards/

it doesn't look professional but the method names can be search words.

[Richard Irving]

I think you are correct in your interpretation Enthalpy, since in the Hohokam pattern it appears that the ten radiocarbon ages from overbank deposits, essentially large floods, correlates with the 1000 BP beginnings in changes to settlement patterns by these prehistoric agriculturalists. Additionally, in the Holocene Stone Age People, Deacon's book appears to be research on the prehistoric adaptions of the people during the transition between the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs, which with eight radiocarbon dates would make the termination of the occupation of the reported two sites at 250 BP.

 

Anthropological dating through the use of the biostratigraphy method makes for an excellent search word indeed, thanks for your additional assistance and education on the subject under discussion.

 

Cheers,

Richard

[Richard Irving]

Enthalpy -- I think you alluded to this method prior, and yes the Institute of Nuclear Physics can date the canvas of artworks beyond any doubt using the “bomb peak” method; since between the late 1950s and early 1960s, Cold War nuclear weapons testing essentially doubled the radiocarbon concentrations in the atmosphere, and therefore in all organisms alive at that time.

 

Cheers,

Dan