In Twos and Threes: Dating Multiple Samples and Materials to Address the Marine Reservoir Effect

Summary

Shell and other marine-derived materials are common in Northwest Coast archaeological sites, particularly shell middens. Yet, uncertainties in the marine reservoir offset have produced a hesitation among some researchers to generate or utilize chronological information derived from marine samples. Clearly. marine-derived dates introduce significant complexities into chronology building that need to be addressed. Here, we present radiocarbon results generated through dating two or three samples of different materials, including shell, bone and wood, recovered from single contexts within archaeological sites in the southern Gulf Islands of coastal British Columbia. We evaluate whether dating two and three-sample sets can allow for a better specification of the marine reservoir offset, and more generally, whether doing so provides for more effective chronology building. We propose that targeted dating of sample sets can be useful in many situations, and that it is critical to find an appropriate balance between budgets, local research priorities and larger radiocarbon methodological objectives.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Issues in Building Radiocarbon Chronologies

Keywords

Spatial Coverage