Project description
Assessing contamination in Doggerland bones through compound-specific radiocarbon dating
During the last Ice Age, the British Isles were connected to mainland Europe by a landmass called Doggerland. It was a fertile place where humans thrived, but as sea levels rose in the early Holocene, it was eventually flooded. Today, the remains of Doggerland are attracting increasing interest. Some spectacular finds have yielded curious radiocarbon dates, and it was suggested that samples may be contaminated. With support from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the FLOOD project will apply advanced radiocarbon dating techniques, including compound-specific analysis of hydroxyproline, to (re)date key samples and resolve debates about their validity. Results will have a significant impact on studies on past environments and extinctions, archaeology, climate change, sea-level fluctuations and radiocarbon dating.
Objective
During the last Ice Age, sea-levels were much lower than today. A land bridge, known as Doggerland, connected the British Isles to the European mainland. Doggerland was part of the Eurasian Mammoth Steppe, a continuous biome of grasslands and plains. It was a productive and fertile environment with rich resources, and formed a core habitat for humans. With the warming temperatures of the early Holocene, the ice sheets melted and rising sea-levels submerged Doggerland. Remains of this extinct world are often found on the beaches of the North Sea, and in the nets of fishermen. These finds generate great interest, both in society and in academia, and are being studied across various disciplines. Robust chronological frameworks are crucial for understanding cultural and environmental changes, especially when the stratigraphic context of finds is uncertain. Radiocarbon analysis of several high-profile ancient bones from the North Sea has yielded unexpected results, with anomalously young dates for extinct megafauna, and marine mammals dating to periods when the North Sea was dry. It has been suggested that these dates are affected by contamination, but this was never formally investigated. FLOOD will directly address this issue using cutting-edge advances in radiocarbon dating, including biomolecular assessment of samples to identify contamination, and compound-specific radiocarbon analysis of the amino acid 'hydroxyproline'. FLOOD will (re)date a selection of high-profile samples with the aim to put a long-lasting debate about the validity of these dates to rest. Results will have widespread implications for the study of sea-level fluctuations, climate change, archaeology, (marine) paleoecology and importantly, for the field of radiocarbon dating.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences palaeontology paleoecology
- humanities history and archaeology archaeology
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology mammalogy
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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9712CP Groningen
Netherlands
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