Refining Radiocarbon Dating of Ivory

0560642 - ÚJF 2023 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Valášek, Vojtěch - Pachnerová Brabcová, Kateřina - Kufnerová, Jitka - Molnár, M. - Světlík, Ivo
Refining Radiocarbon Dating of Ivory.
Radiation Protection Dosimetry. Roč. 198, 9-11 (2022), s. 675-680. ISSN 0144-8420. E-ISSN 1742-3406
R&D Projects: GA MV(CZ) VJ01010026; GA MŠMT EF16_019/0000728
Institutional support: RVO:61389005
Keywords : radiocarbon dating * c-14 content * growth rate
OECD category: Analytical chemistry
Impact factor: 1, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://doi.org/10.1093/rpd/ncac118

Elephants are on the verge of extinction due to extensive poaching to obtain ivory and illegal income. According to international law, the trade in ivory of African elephants is outlawed, with a few exceptions, as for example in European Union for antique ivory obtained before 1947. There is basically only one physical method for determining the age of ivory and that is radiocarbon dating. The method uses artificially temporarily enhanced C-14 content in the atmosphere to date relevant samples with high resolution. Since this advantage is slowly fading, the question arises of how to fill in the loss of the resolution. One possibility is exploiting the chronology of ivory. This work studies a whole elephant tusk and uses radiocarbon dating of samples obtained longitudinally and transversely from along the tusk to analyse the growth rate.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0333528