The Effects of Possible Contamination on the Radiocarbon Dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls I: Castor Oil
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Some fragments of the Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts were contaminated with castor oil in the late 1950s. We have conducted experiments in order to establish if the AAA pretreatment cleaning procedures conducted on Dead Sea Scroll manuscript samples in the last two dating series (Bonani et al. 1992; Jull et al. 1995) were effective in removing oil contamination. Our experiments show that not all oil contamination can be expected to have been removed by the acid-alkaline-acid (AAA) pretreatment, and that the radiocarbon ages previously reported therefore cannot be guaranteed to be correct. Any samples contaminated with castor oil were most likely reported with ages that are too young by an unknown amount.
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Rasmussen et al. (2001) and (2009) reported that castor oil, originally applied to fragments of the Dead Sea scrolls to enhance their readability, could not be removed sufficiently by AAA treatment for reliable carbon dating.
“This example is interesting because Rasmussen et al. (2001) and(2009) reported that castor oil, originally applied to fragments of the Dead Sea scrolls to enhance their readability, could not be removed sufficiently by AAA (acid-alkali-acid) treatment for reliable carbon dating.”
From An instructive inter-laboratory comparison: The 1988 radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin (2020) · cites this paper as Rasmussen et al. (2001)
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Research works printed but not linked: 5
- Bonani G, Ivy S, Wölfli W, Broshi M, Carmi I, Strugnell J. 1992. Radiocarbon dating of fourteen Dead Sea Scrolls. Radiocarbon 34(3):843-49.
- Caldarero N. 1995. Storage conditions and physical treat- ments relating to the dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Radiocarbon 37(1):21-32.
- Mook W, van der Plicht J. 1999. Reporting 14 C Activities and Concentrations. Radiocarbon 41(3):227-39.
- Jull AJT, Donahue DJ, Broshi M, Tov E. 1995. Radiocar- bon dating of scrolls and linen fragments from the Judean desert. Radiocarbon 37(1):11-19.
- Stuiver M, Reimer PJ, Bard E, Beck JW, Burr GS, Hughen KA, Kromer B, McCormac G, van der Plicht J, Spurk M. 1998. Radiocarbon 40(3):1041-84.
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An instructive inter-laboratory comparison: The 1988 radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin
Walsh, B., & Schwalbe, L. (2020) · Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports · doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.102015 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
- Authors
- Rasmussen, K. L., van der Plicht, J., Cryer, F. H., Doudna, G., Cross, F. M., & Strugnell, J.
- Affiliations
- National Museum of Denmark (DK)
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Rasmussen, Kaare L
- ORCID
- Rasmussen, Kaare L
- Venue
- Radiocarbon
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2001
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 127-132
- ISSN
- 0033-8222 (ISSN-L)
- 1945-5755
- OpenAlex
- W1902991354
- Cited by
- 37
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2019: 23 · 2015: 1 · 2013: 4
- FWCI
- 0.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Radiocarbon (publishedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- University of Southern Denmark Research Portal (University of Southern Denmark) (publishedVersion)
- UA Campus Repository (The University of Arizona) (acceptedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Biblical Studies and Interpretation
- Keywords
- Dead Sea Scrolls, radiocarbon dating, sample cleanup, pollutant removal
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