A04_P02

Comparison of radiocarbon dates of animal bones from Vindija and Mujina Pećina caves

Krajcar Bronić I¹,  Karavanić I², Sironić A¹, Vukosavljević N², Banda M², Smith F³, Radović S⁴

¹Division of Experimental Physics, Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia, ²Department of Archaology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia, ³Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Illinois State University; Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado, Normal; Boulder, USA, ⁴Institute for Quaternary Paleontology and Geology of Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts , Zagreb, Croatia

Bone samples from two caves, Vindija (Donja Voća, NW Croatia) and Mujina Pećina cave (Plano, near Kaštela, Dalmatia), were selected for radiocarbon AMS dating at the Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI) laboratory. Collagen extraction yielded >1% of collagen for 10 samples. From six samples the collagen yield was lower than 0.5 % and those bones could have not been dated. The low collagen yield (<1%) may produce an underestimated radiocarbon age. For comparison, bone samples were sent to Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU) for radiocarbon dating with an additional step of ultrafiltration (UF) to select collagen fraction having molecules larger than 30 kDa. Four of them could not have been dated due to low collagen yield, five were dated in spite of low yield, and only three of them were successfully dated.

The results of delta-¹³C values of bone samples showed the same range in both RBI and ORAU laboratories, between -18.3 ‰ and -21.8 ‰, which are typical values for bone collagen. Radiocarbon conventional ages of these limited number of bone samples were comparable.

The preliminary results presented here point to the possible obstacles in radiocarbon dating of late Middle Paleolithic samples: bones are not well preserved, yield of collagen is often low, and the age is close to the limit of the radiocarbon method.

Acknowledgment: „Last Neandertals at the Crossroads of Central Europe and the Mediterranean – NECEM“ is financed by Croatian Science Foundation, HRZZ-IP-2019-04-6649.