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An Improvement in Preparation of Mortar for Radiocarbon Dating

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

E Sonninen  and
H Jungner
E Sonninen*
Affiliation:
Dating Laboratory, P.O. Box 64, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
H Jungner
Affiliation:
Dating Laboratory, P.O. Box 64, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
*
Corresponding author. Email: eloni.sonninen@helsinki.fi.
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Abstract

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An error source in radiocarbon dating of ancient mortar is dead carbon of limestone mixed in the matrix. To eliminate the influence of limestone the difference in feasibility to react with acid between mortar and limestone is used. Since the rate of reaction depends on grain size use of a well-defined grain size can give a better separation between mortar and limestone. We present results for the grain size dependence of reaction rates for several mortar and limestone samples and discuss the application for dating.

Type
I. Becoming Better
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 43 , Issue 2A: Proceedings of the 17th International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 1 of 3) , 2001 , pp. 271 - 273
Copyright
Copyright © The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

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