Journal article
Radiocarbon Ecology of the Land Snail Helix Melanostoma in Northeastern Libya
EA Hill, PJ Reimer, CO Hunt, AL Prendergast, GW Barker
Radiocarbon | UNIV ARIZONA DEPT GEOSCIENCES | Published : 2017
DOI: 10.1017/RDC.2017.49
Abstract
Terrestrial gastropods are problematical for radiocarbon (14C) measurement because they tend to incorporate carbon from ancient sources as a result of their dietary behavior. The 14C ecology of the pulmonate land snail, Helix melanostoma in Cyrenaica, northeastern Libya, was investigated as part of a wider study on the potential of using terrestrial mollusk shell for 14C dating of archaeological deposits. H. melanostoma was selected out of the species available in the region as it has the most predictable 14C ecology and also had a ubiquitous presence within the local archaeology. The ecological observations indicate that H. melanostoma has a very homogenous 14C ecology with consistent varia..
View full abstractGrants
Awarded by Seventh Framework Programme
Funding Acknowledgements
We thank the Department of Antiquities of Libya in Tripoli and in Shahat for permissions and continued support from the inception of the project. We acknowledge the financial support of the Society for Libyan Studies, the Leakey Foundation, the University of Cambridge, and the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Investigator Grant 230421 to Graeme Barker). We thank our many Libyan and European colleagues for help, support, and discussion over several field seasons. We thank the staff of the <SUP>14</SUP>CHRONO Centre, Queen's University Belfast including Stephen Hoper, Jim McDonald, Ron Reimer, Julia Simpson, and Michelle Thompson for their expertise and advice. We also are indebted to constructive comments by Jeff Pigati and an anonymous reviewer.