The lebyazhinka burial ground (middle volga region, Russia): New 14C dates and the reservoir effect

Abstract

We report new accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dates of bones from humans, animals, and fish from grave 12 of the Lebyazhinka V Eneolithic burial ground in the middle Volga River region, Russia. Earlier conventional dates established a chronology. This has to be adjusted by new insights: the date has to be corrected for reservoir effects. For this purpose we redated bone from a human, and for herbivore and freshwater fauna from the same context, and included measurements of the stable isotopes 13C and 15N. The reservoir offset for the human appears to be about 700 14C yr.