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Is there any chance that the radiocarbon estimate could have been flawed? P ----- Original Message ----- From: "DavidEarle Robinson" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, May 27, 2002 10:04 AM Subject: Re: Sambucus seeds Uncarbonised Sambucus seeds have been recorded at a number of Danish sites - dating primarily from the Viking Age (i.e. 750 AD) onwards. They have been recorded in large numbers in deposits where the conditions for preservation of plant remains are generally poor. As for the origin of these seeds - a cautionary tale is provided by the work of Peter Steen Henriksen on Djursland, Eastern Jutland. PSH found well-preserved uncarbonised Sambucus seeds together with carbonised plant remains in Late Neolithic/Bronze Age deposits sealed under a thick layer of blown sand dated to the Late Bronze Age. A radiocarbon date showed however that they were modern! How they reached apparently sealed prehistoric features is still a mystery. Dr David Earle Robinson English Heritage Centre for Archaeology Fort Cumberland Fort Cumberland Road Eastney Portsmouth PO4 9LD Tel. 02392 856776 Fax. 02392 856701 >>> Stefanie Jacomet <[log in to unmask]> 05/27 9:47 am >>> Dear all, in Switzerland we have very regularly sambucus in e.g. roman sites and layers (waterlogged and not!) - as andy says they seem to bee among the toughest.... and also we are always thinking about if they are may be recent contamination or not - but at least some cannot be, definitively. regards Stefanie Jacomet >Dana and list, > >My main experience with Sambucus seeds was in the investigation of plant >macrofossil assemblages (waterlogged) from Holocene and late-glacial >alluvial sediments in southeast England (Thames and Medway valleys). >Sambucus seeds were one of the most ubiquitous macrofossil remains to be >found, surviving even in sands and gravels that were otherwise sterile. It >has been my suspicion for years that they are among the toughest and most >persistent seeds in existence. This meant that they had a great potential >for being re-worked and I tended to play down their interpretative >importance, unless the assemblages were thought to be mostly autochthonous >(i.e. backswamp deposits). Unfortunately I have no sites where I can >compare charred and uncharred preservation. > >Best Wishes > >Andy Fairbairn >-------------------- > >Dr Andrew S Fairbairn >School of Archaeology and Anthropology, >A D Hope Building >Australian National University >Canberra >ACT 0200 >Australia > >Tel: (02) 6259 0176 Prof. Dr. Stefanie Jacomet Seminar für Ur- und Frühgeschichte Abteilung Archäobiologie/Archäobotanik-Labor c/o Botanisches Institut Schönbeinstr. 6 CH-4056 Basel Tel.: +41 61 267 35 15/07 Fax.: + 41 61 267 29 86 email: [log in to unmask] homepage: http://www.unibas.ch/arch/ Tel priv. 079 322 39 17 handy / 061 971 26 12 _________________________________________________________________ This e-mail is intended solely for the above-mentioned recipient and it may contain confidential or privileged information. If you have received it in error, please notify us immediately and delete the e-mail. You must not copy, distribute, disclose or take any action in reliance on it. English Heritage Telephone 020 7973 3000 Facsimile 020 7973 3001 _________________________________________________________________