Ta1_03

Application of ¹⁴C dating in the routine forensic practice: outcome of the IAEA Coordinated Research Project

Calcagnile L¹, Hajdas I², Molnar M³, Varga T^3,4,5, Major I³, D'Elia M¹, Jull A^3,6, Simon A⁷, Quarta G¹

¹CEDAD-Centre of Applied Physics, Dating and Diagnostics, University Of Salento, Lecce, Italy, ²Laboratory for Ion Beam Physics, ETHZ, Zürich, Switzerland, ³International Radiocarbon AMS Competence and Training (INTERACT) Center, Institute for Nuclear Research, Debrecen, Hungary, ⁴University of Debrecen, Doctoral School of Physics, Debrecen, Hungary, ⁵Isotoptech Ltd, Debrecen, Hungary, ⁶Dept. of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA, ⁷Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, International Atomic Energy Agency, Wien, Austria

Since 2017 the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) has undertaken a Coordinated Research Project (CRP F11021) entitled “Enhancing Nuclear Analytical Techniques to meet the Needs of Forensics Sciences”. The scope of the program is to develop and utilize the capabilities of nuclear and accelerator-based analytical techniques towards recognized needs of forensic sciences that could not be efficiently addressed by other methods. Indeed, despite the relevant advantages of accelerator-based techniques, their application in the routine forensics practice appears to be still limited. Aim of the CRP was to support long term collaborations and networking between experts in nuclear analytical techniques and forensic science stakeholders such as law enforcement agencies, police corps and international organizations. We report on the outcomes of one of the WPs (WP4) which was entirely dedicated to the applications of ¹⁴C.   Within this WP, in order to cope with the factors limiting the impact of AMS dating in forensics, a detailed research program was defined on the basis of discussions with forensic stakeholders and experts of other analytical techniques. The need to define common guidelines and quality assurance protocols for the application of ¹⁴C was established, also considering possible ethical issues, interpretation of data and the assessment of the achievable chronological resolution on classes of samples relevant in forensics.  Different intercomparison exercises were then organized and run among three AMS facilities: CEDAD (Italy), ETHZ (Switzerland) and Isotoptech-ATOMKI (Hungary) aimed at addressing these issues on different sample materials such as ivory, bones, paper, textiles and foodstuff (wine and coffees).