Irka Hajdas

ETH Zurich | ETH Zürich · Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics

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...

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...

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’o...

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...

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...

The subalpine, atmospherically fed Śnieżka peatland, located in the Polish part of the Sudetes, is one of the nominated candidates for the GSSP of the Anthropocene. Data from two profiles, Sn1 (2012) and Sn0 (2020), from this site are critical for distinguishing the proposed epoch, while an additional core Sn2 is presented to support main evidence....

The short sediment core EMB201/7-4 retrieved from the East Gotland Basin, central Baltic Sea, is explored here as a candidate to host the stratigraphical basis for the Anthropocene series and its equivalent Anthropocene epoch, still to be formalized in the Geological Time Scale. The core has been accurately dated back to 1840 CE using a well-establ...

Fresh glacial landforms of the Alpine forelands evidence the presence and extent of large piedmont glaciers during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and yield valuable insights into LGM glacier dynamics. This study assesses widespread ice marginal landforms preserved within the limit of the former LGM Rhine glacier and the eastern lobes of the LGM Reu...

Event stratigraphy is used to help characterise the Anthropocene as a chronostratigraphic concept, based on analogous deep-time events, for which we provide a novel categorization. Events in stratigraphy are distinct from extensive, time-transgressive ‘episodes’ – such as the global, highly diachronous record of anthropogenic change, termed here an...

La mission archéologique menée en 2021 dans le cadre du projet « Peuplement humain et paléoenvironnement en Afrique – Projet Falémé » a eu lieu entre le 7 décembre 2020 et le 10 avril 2021 au Sénégal oriental, dans la vallée de la Falémé, après une phase de préparation administrative et logistique à Bamako au Mali. Elle s’est terminée à Dakar par d...

The excellent preservation of the waterlogged botanical remains of the multiphase Neolithic pile-dwelling site of Zug-Riedmatt (Central Switzerland) yielded an ideal dataset to delve into the issue of plant economy of a community spanning several decades. The study identified a major change in crops where oil plants played a key role in the site’s...

The medieval Turks of the eastern Asian steppe are known for funerary finds exalting horsemanship and military heroism that thrived on intertribal warfare. Existing bodies of research on various categories of objects—which include architecture, stelae, grave goods and inhumations—are in depth but highly regionalized. As a result, our understanding...

Establishing the time of creation of a painting may be the first and easiest question to answer based on scientific evidence, whereas defining the artist is more complex. Within the context of heritage sciences, 14C analyses are gaining popularity owing to advances in microsamples. The integration of radiocarbon dating on the support, the natural o...

Sixty-two 14 C dates are analyzed in combination with a recently established local floating tree-ring sequence for the Early Neolithic site of La Draga (Banyoles, northeast Iberian Peninsula). Archaeological data, radiometric and dendrochronological dates, as well as sedimentary and micro-stratigraphical information are used to build a Bayesian chr...

Event stratigraphy is used to help characterise the Anthropocene as a chronostratigraphic concept, based on analogous deep-time events, for which we provide a novel categorization. Events in stratigraphy are distinct from extensive, time-transgressive ‘episodes’ – such as the global, highly diachronous record of anthropogenic change, termed here an...

Event stratigraphy is used to help characterise the Anthropocene as a chronostratigraphic concept, based on analogous deep-time events, for which we provide a novel categorization. Events in stratigraphy are distinct from extensive, time-transgressive ‘episodes’ – such as the global, highly diachronous record of anthropogenic change, termed here an...

This study provides a detailed reconstruction of cold-water coral mound build-up within the East Melilla Coral Province (southeastern Alboran Sea), more precisely at the northern part of Brittlestar Ridge I, over the last 300 kyr. The multiproxy investigation of core MD13-3462G reveals that mound build-up took place during both interglacial and gla...

Pests appear to have accompanied humans and their crops since the beginning of farming. Nevertheless, their study is only rarely integrated into research on farming in prehistory. An assemblage of invertebrates and small mammals was recovered from the waterlogged layers of three wells at the Middle Neolithic site (4250–3700 cal B.C.) of Les Bagnole...

The dating of pollen grains is emerging as the method of choice for lacustrine climate archives that contain few datable macrofossils. Due to the need for high-purity pollen concentrates, new methods are constantly being developed to precisely separate pollen grains. Flow cytometry represents a promising alternative to conventional approaches, enab...

High‐mountain lake records in semiarid foreland settings, such as the central Andes of North‐western Argentina, are highly restricted and often deprived of well‐preserved microstratigraphic information to analyze palaeoenvironmental changes and their causes, particularly for periods prior to the Last Glacial Maximum. Laguna La Salada Grande (23ºS/6...

There is a considerable interest in developing new analytical tools to fight the illicit trafficking of heritage goods and particularly of easel paintings, whose high market values attract an ever-increasing volume of criminal activities. The objective is to combat the illicit traffic of smuggled or forged paintworks and to prevent the acquisition...

In the frame of the IAEA-CRP (Coordinated Research Projects): Enhancing Nuclear Analytical Techniques to Meet the Needs of Forensic Sciences, an intercomparison exercise was organized between three AMS laboratories. Aim of the program is to promote the use of nuclear and accelerator-based techniques in routine forensics practice. In this view, one...

Lake sediments are increasingly used to reconstruct recurrence intervals of large earthquakes-a prerequisite for the establishment of accurate seismic hazard models-because they can record strong seismic shaking as mass-transport deposits (MTDs), turbidites or sediment deformations and often reach back several thousands of years. To derive quantita...

Neolithic pile dwelling sites are known particularly well North of the Alps, with a boom starting from ca. 4300 cal BC. These sites are famous for the excellent preservation conditions of organic material (wooden tools, textiles, fruit remains and foodstuffs have been preserved in many of them), but their origin is still unclear. In Europe, only th...