Irka Hajdas

ETH Zurich | ETH Zürich · Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics

An international consortium of radiocarbon laboratories has established the origin of the Church of St. Margaret of Antioch in Kopčany (Slovakia), because its age was not well known from previous investigations. In total, 13 samples of charcoal, wood, mortar, and plaster were analyzed. The ¹⁴ C results obtained from the different laboratories, as w...

Large evaporite deposits, reaching several hundreds of metres of thickness, occur in many basins of our planet but remain poorly understood due to the absence of modern analogues. The origin of ancient evaporites and their highly variable sedimentation rates are often debated and ambiguous. The Danakil rift basin in northern Afar (Ethiopia) feature...

Radiocarbon dating of two linear features recorded by CITiZAN at Sea View, Mersea Island, Essex has demonstrated that they were constructed from timbers felled in the late seventh–eight centuries cal AD.

This study investigates the paleoenvironmental changes and fluvial dynamics in the Inaouène River Valley of central northern Morocco over the last 22,000 years. Through comprehensive field study and radiocarbon dating of Upper Pleistocene and Holocene alluvial deposits, the research identifies six main alluvial units reflecting distinct phases of f...

Radiocarbon dating and chronological modelling of samples from the Dorchester palisaded enclosure, recovered from excavations at Greyhound Yard and Church Street, Dorchester, Dorset were undertaken in support of a PhD funded by the AHRC through the South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership at Cardiff University undertaken by Susan Greaney...

A common sense: The Anthropocene was originally understood by Crutzen as not only representing humanity’s influence on Earth’s geological record (he was well aware of earlier anthropogenic impacts), but also reflecting a system with physical characteristics that had, since widespread industrialization, departed from the prolonged, relatively stable...

The main component of microfossils in the bottom sediments of Reindeer Lake from Spitsbergen, documenting the almost 8,000-year history of this water body, are algae representing colonies of a very rare species Pediastrum orientale (Skuja) Jankovská et Komárek 1995 with only a very small (lower than 1%) admixture of other green algae species. It ha...

This paper compares various wood pretreatment methods for highly degraded, and problematic fossil wood extracted from the opencast Szczerców site of the Bełchatów Lignite Mine in Central Poland. The study evaluates the pretreatment methods using both large samples (55–255 g, referred to as series A) and small samples (36–150 mg, referred to as seri...

Mesolithic rock shelter, Alpine archaeology, survey, palaeoethnobotany, malacology, radiocarbon datas

Yannik Wimmer, André Albrecht, Irka Hajdas, Daniel Freund, Anita Meier, Jochen Reinhard, Long-forgotten Pile Dwellings in Cham (ZG). Radiocarbon dating of waterlogged wood from the shallows of Lake Zug. Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zurich – Annual report 2023, 85.

The Must Farm pile-dwelling site is an extraordinarily well-preserved Late Bronze Age settlement in Cambridgeshire built over a freshwater palaeochannel that was destroyed by a catastrophic fire shortly after its construction. Predating the settlement was a double-alignment of massive oak piles. This technical archive report on the tree-ring and ra...

The Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) has concluded that the Anthropocene represents geological reality and should be linked with the plethora of stratigraphic proxies that initiate or show marked perturbations at around the 1950s, and should be defined using a Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP). We propose formalizing the Anthropoc...

This part of the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) submission proposes that the base of the Anthropocene should be defined as series/epoch, terminating the Holocene Series/Epoch with a single Crawfordian stage/age using a Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) in an annually varved Crawford Lake core, Ontario, Canada, defined at 17.5 cm...

The Hipercorig Hallstatt History (H3) project aims to unravel the entire Late Glacial to Holocene sedimentary succession recording past climate, environment, natural hazard impacts, human–environment interactions, and prehistoric mining history. We successfully cored 51 m of the sedimentary succession of Lake Hallstatt, revealing a high-resolution...

The understanding of cultural dynamics at work at the end of the Final Pleistocene in West Africa suffers from a significant lack of excavated and dated sites, particularly in the Sahelian and Sudanian ecozones. While the Later Stone Age shows varied behavioral developments in different parts of the continent, the chrono-cultural framework of this...

This is the Executive Summary of a report produced by the membership of the Anthropocene Working Group as part of a submission to the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy to seek formalisation of the Anthropocene as an epoch of geological time. It summarises the content of two reports and their associated appendices which provide a background t...

Archaeological surveys and excavations from 2005 to 2023 in the municipality of Muotathal have so far revealed nine Mesolithic sites with radiocarbon-dated charcoal and faunal remains, as well as typologically identifable silices. The differing topographical situations of the sites and fnd assemblages make it possible to propose a modelled recons...

The interpretation of high-resolution remote-sensed data (i.e., LiDAR-derived DTMs, aerial photos and satellite images), compared with ground-penetrating radar surveys, historical cartography, geomorphological surveys and stratigraphic data, allowed us to map a large system of dunes near the Grado-Marano Lagoon (NE Italy) and reconstruct its evolut...

Accurate radiocarbon ( ¹⁴ C) analysis depends on a successful carbon separation relevant to the studied object. The process of ¹⁴ C dating involves the following steps: characterization and sample choice, sample treatment, measurements, and evaluation of the results. Here, we provide an overview of conventional approaches to macromolecular samples...

Radiocarbon dating and chronological modelling of samples from Maumbury Rings, Dorchester, Dorset was undertaken in support of a PhD funded by the AHRC through the South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership at Cardiff University undertaken by Susan Greaney. The results estimate Maumbury Rings to have been constructed in 2470–2405 cal BC (9...

W artykule zaprezentowano wyniki datowania radiowęglowego wczesnośredniowiecznej ceramiki z dwóch pieców odkrytych na stanowisku nr 35 w Gródku nad Bugiem. „Tradycyjne” datowanie wskazuje na XI w., podczas gdy uzyskane daty 14C są o około 150 lat starsze. Stratygraficzny związek próbek i ceramiki nie budzi wątpliwości, należy zatem omawiane wyniki...

To obtain scientific data regarding the chronology of archaeological structures, lime mortar radiocarbon dating has often demonstrated to be a decisive method. However, knowing the specific chemical-mineralogical characteristics of mortars can help when preparing samples or interpreting results. Among other issues, the dating of magnesian mortars c...

It has recently been observed, that a change in the crop spectrum happened during the so-called Middle Neolithic in France at ca. 4000 BC. An agricultural system based on free-threshing cereals (naked wheat and naked barley) seems to shift to one based on glume wheats. This is a major change for traditional farmers and this paper aims to shed light...

Le stade isotopique 2 (29,000-11,700 BP) est la phase climatique aride et instable qui précède la mise en place de l'Holocène. Dans plusieurs régions d'Afrique, cette phase est marquée par un hiatus sédimentaire et/ou occupationnel, en particulier pendant le Dernier Maximum Glaciaire (26,500-19,000 BP). L'extrême aridité qui caractérise cette pério...

Multi-proxy analyses of two twin sediment cores from Reindeer Lake were performed to reconstruct Holocene environmental conditions in this eastern branch of Bellsund region (Western Spitsbergen). The basal sediment was AMS-dated to 8.4-8.2 ka cal BP. The low thickness of the sediments in the profile, with a good correlation of dates with their dept...

A great history in a small wetland: human-environment relationships on the East European Plain in the last 13 thousand years

Pour la dernière année, sous la direction du Professeur Éric Huysecom, du programme de recherche « Peuplement humain et Paléoenvironnement en Afrique - Projet Falémé » une mission de terrain était prévue au premier trimestre 2022 afin de remplir les objectifs scientifiques fixés. Il s’agissait 1) de poursuivre la caractérisation des dynamiques d’oc...

In order to better understand the long-term management of water resource and its relationship with peatlands in mid-mountain areas, a research project was conducted in the mire complex of Gourgon, in the Forez Mountains (Eastern Massif Central, France). The peat growth response to global and local changes was reconstructed based (1) on the radiocar...

This document is a technical archive report on the radiocarbon dating of carbonised plant macrofossils in support of research undertaken by the Historic England Environmental Studies branch. It includes full details of 32 radiocarbon measurements obtained from Woodcutts, Iwerne, Rotherley, Durrington Walls, Cuckoo Stone, Coneybury Henge, Lockington...

Palaeoecological analyses of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeological sites are relatively rare for Central Europe. Here we present interdisciplinary results on palynological, macrofossil and charcoal determination, as well as archaeology, as performed and financed by the Staatsarchiv Schwyz (Switzerland). Prehistorical hunter-gatherers used this...

Dendrochronological and radiocarbon analysis of oak timbers from a trackway recorded by the Coastal and Intertidal Zone Archaeological Network (CITiZAN) on Coopers Beach, East Mersea, Essex (site code CCB17) was undertaken prior to their conservation. In addition, several samples from associated brushwood material were recovered and analysed. This...

Pelagonia is a mountain valley in North Macedonia that was densely occupied by early farming communities in the second half of the 7th and early 6th millennium bce. Archaeobotanical analysis is being done on material from three sites there, Vrbjanska Čuka, Veluška Tumba and Vlaho. This paper presents the results of archaeobotanical analyses of rema...

The investigation of cryogenic cave minerals (CCMs) has developed in recent decades to be a particularly valuable proxy for palaeo-permafrost reconstruction. Due to difficulties, however, in obtaining reliable chronologies with the so-called “fine” form of these minerals, such studies have thus far utilised the “coarse” form. In this study, we succ...

Pteropods are holoplanktonic molluscs presently endangered because their fragile aragonitic shell is very sensitive to ocean acidification. The preservation of pteropods, and in particular of the mesopelagic Heliconoides (Limacina) inflatus, has been used to assess aragonite saturation state in Quaternary sediments (Limacina Dissolution Index, LDX)...

The Swiss Alps are an exceptional territory, as much by its position at the crossroads of various spheres of influence as by the discoveries of major importance for the understanding of ancient periods. Our project concerns the study of neolithic societies across the Swiss Alps using an interdisciplinary approach by combining stable isotopes, radio...

The Basel-Waisenhaus burial community (Switzerland) has been traditionally interpreted as immigrated Alamans because of the location and dating of the burial ground – despite the typical late Roman funeral practices. To evaluate this hypothesis, multi-isotope and aDNA analyses were conducted on the eleven individuals buried there. The results show...

The Basel-Waisenhaus burial community (Switzerland) has been traditionally interpreted as immigrated Alamans due to the location and dating of the burial ground – despite the typical late Roman funeral practices. To evaluate this hypothesis, multi-isotope and aDNA analyses were conducted on the eleven individuals buried there. The results show that...

Radiocarbon ( ¹⁴ C) data for 2nd millennium BC urban sites in northern Mesopotamia have been lacking until recently. This article presents a preliminary dataset and Bayesian model addressing the Middle and early Late Bronze Age (Old Babylonian and pre/early Mittani) strata of Kurd Qaburstan—one of the largest archaeological sites on the Erbil plain...

Keywords: Alpen; Feuerstellen; Holzkohle; Jüngere Eisenzeit; Faunenreste; Mollusken; historische Inschriften. – Alpes ; foyers ; charbons de bois ; Âge du Fer récent ; restes de faune ; mollusques ; inscriptions historiques. – Alpi; focolari; carbone di legno; età del ferro recente; resti faunistici; iscrizioni storiche. – Alps; hearths; charcoal...

The Pleistocene to Holocene sedimentary sequence of the Falémé Valley, eastern Senegal, is one of the rare contexts in West Africa documenting the Paleolithic. Here, the Middle Stone Age (MSA) to Later Stone Age (LSA) transition seems to occur between the end of MIS 3 and the beginning of the Holocene, a period during which several successive techn...

Early detection of volcanic eruptions is of major importance for protecting human life. Ground deformation and changes in seismicity, geochemistry, petrology, and gravimetry are used to assess volcanic activity before eruptions. Studies on Mt. Etna (Italy) have demonstrated that vegetation can be affected by pre-eruptive activity before the onset o...

Euthecosomata pteropods were analysed in core sediments collected in the framework of the 2016 EUROFLEETS2 SEMSEEP cruise, offshore of Israel, in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The investigated cores were retrieved in a deep-sea coral area at 690 m depth, an actively methane-seeping pockmark area at 1038 m depth, and a deep-sea channel area at 1310...

The start-up, build-up and demise of cold-water coral mounds are governed by environmental changes at global, regional and local scales. Whilst the formation of cold-water coral mounds across the globe is widely documented to follow interglacial-glacial cycles, less is known about their response to local environmental fluctuations during short time...

Merritts et al. (2023) misrepresent Paul Crutzen’s Anthropocene concept as encompassing all significant anthropogenic impacts, extending back many millennia. Crutzen’s definition reflects massively enhanced, much more recent human impacts that transformed the Earth System away from the stability of Holocene conditions. His concept of an epoch (henc...

The method of determining the biobased carbon content in liquid fuel samples is standardized, but different laboratories use different protocols during sample preparation and perform the measurements using different machines. The accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) laboratories use different combustion, preparation, and graphitization methods for t...

The proposed Anthropocene Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) candidate site of West Flower Garden Bank (27.8762°N, 93.8147°W) is an open ocean location in the Gulf of Mexico with a submerged coral reef and few direct human impacts. Corals contain highly accurate and precise (<±1 year) internal chronologies, similar to tree rings, a...

Corals are unique in the suite of proposed Anthropocene Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) archives, as living organisms that produce aragonite exoskeletons preserved in the geological record that contain highly accurate and precise (<±1 year) internal chronologies. The GSSP candidate site North Flinders Reef in the Coral Sea (Aust...

Corals are unique in the suite of proposed Anthropocene Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) archives, as living organisms that produce aragonite exoskeletons preserved in the geological record that contain highly accurate and precise (<±1 year) internal chronologies. The GSSP candidate site North Flinders Reef in the Coral Sea (Aust...

An annually laminated succession in Crawford Lake, Ontario, Canada is proposed as the Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Anthropocene as a series/epoch with a base dated at 1950 CE. Varve couplets of organic matter capped by calcite precipitated each summer in alkaline surface waters reflect environmental change at global t...

This article discusses radiocarbon dating results of documents preserved at the Central Library of the University of Tehran (hereafter, CLUT) as part of the project “Irankoran.” The paper adds new evidence to an ongoing campaign of dating Qurʾāns and Oriental manuscripts by the Corpus Coranicum Project. The dated manuscripts include one kūfī fragme...

Die radiometrische Altersbestimmung von Stoffen ist nur scheinbar ein objektiver Vorgang. Tatsächlich verfügt sie über eine Vielzahl von Bedeutungsebenen, erweckt Assoziationen zum Kosmischen wie zum Politischen. Radionuklide und Radiokarbon, weit mehr als nur chronometrische Messmedien, verknüpfen die Geschichte und das Handeln der Menschen auf En...

Cores from Searsville Lake within Stanford University’s Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, California, USA, are examined to identify a potential GSSP for the Anthropocene: core JRBP2018-VC01B (944.5 cm-long) and tightly correlated JRBP2018-VC01A (852.5 cm-long). Spanning from 1900 CE ± 3 years to 2018 CE, a secure chronology resolved to the sub-annu...

In the summers of 2020 and 2021, a team of archaeologists and palaeoecologists examined the “Flözerbändli” site, a rocky overhang located directly above the right bank of the River Muota at an elevation of 740 m a.s.l. The excavations unearthed Early Mesolithic layers which yielded charcoal fragments from the period between 9746 and 8294 BC, stone...

The investigation of cryogenic cave minerals (CCMs) has developed in recent decades to be a particularly valuable proxy for palaeo-permafrost reconstruction. Due to difficulties, however, in obtaining reliable chronologies with the so-called “fine” form of these minerals, such studies have thus far utilised the “coarse” form. In this study, we succ...