A07_03

Inquisitive or Nefarious: The Case of Non-Academic Radiocarbon Customers 

Hundman B¹, M. Tate A¹

¹Directams, Bothell, United States

The people that seek the use of radiocarbon dating to gain information on objects of cultural heritage are as unique as the objects themselves. In addition to the traditional academic disciplines, “private” individuals, ranging from art dealers and auction houses to amateur scientists and average citizens, bring a myriad of intentions to their specific research questions. It is incumbent upon testing laboratories to assess the objects, and their owners, by identifying potentially vulnerable provenance locations, forgeries, and illicit acquisitions. In 2018, DirectAMS adopted the recommendations of the Radiocarbon community for the protection of objects of cultural heritage. By requiring inquirers to provide additional provenance and provenience for these items, we have been successful in facilitating genuine scientific exploration, while screening potentially objectionable materials from analysis. This presentation discusses the implementation of the ethical approach employed by DirectAMS to assess these core intentions and several case studies of material submitted for analysis.