Working with Dr Stewart Fallon, I am responsible
for chemical pretreatment of samples submitted to the ANU for
radiocarbon dating. If you have queries about submitting samples
to the laboratory, dating a specific sample type or radiocarbon
dating in general, please do not hesitate to email.
Research
Interests
My research focuses on the production of accurate
radiocarbon dates that can be used to build chronologies. These
in turn can be used to address questions that are of interest to
archaeologists.
Radiocarbon
pretreatment, particularly of bone and charcoal
Bone and charcoal are some of the most commonly
dated samples, but particularly in the Pleistocene,
contamination can be difficult to remove. In warm climates where
preservation is limited, dating organic materials can be made
even more challenging. A current project involves the dating of
severely degraded bone with ninhydrin to target short fragments
of collagen which do not normally survive the ultrafiltration
protocol routinely used to date bone at the ANU.
Representative publications
·Wood R.E., Douka, K., Boscato, P., Haesaerts,
P. Sinitsyn, A., Higham, T.F.G. (2012) Testing the ABOX-SC
method: Dating known-age charcoals associated with the Campanian
Ignimbrite. Quaternary Geochronology, 9, 16-26
·Wood, R.E., Bronk Ramsey, C., Higham, T.F.G.
(2010), Refining the background correction for radiocarbon
dating of bone collagen with the ultrafiltration protocol at
ORAU, Radiocarbon, 52, 1336-1350
·Ascough, P.L., Bird, M.I., Meredith, W., Wood,
R.E., Snape, C.E., Brock, F., Higham, T.F.G., Large, D.,
Apperley, D., (2010), Hydropyrolysis: Implications for
radiocarbon pre-treatment and characterization of Black Carbon,
Radiocarbon, 52, 600-611
·Bird, M.I., Charville-Mort, P.D.J., Ascough, P.L.,
Wood, R., Higham, T. Apperley, D. (2010), Assessment of oxygen
plasma ashing as a pre-treatment for radiocarbon dating,
Quaternary Geochronology, 5, 435-442
Palaeolithic
archaeology, particularly the European Middle to Upper
Palaeolithic transition
My DPhil focused on the chronology of the Middle to
Upper Palaeolithic transition and final Neanderthals in Iberia,
within a project lead by Prof Thomas Higham (University of
Oxford) examining this period throughout western Europe.
Nitrogen content was used to identify well preserved bones, and
the ultrafiltration protocol was used to extract and purify
collagen from butchered bone. We have built a reliable
chronology for Iberia, demonstrating that two of the latest
Neanderthal/Middle Palaeolithic assemblages are significantly
earlier than previously thought, and in doing so cast doubt on
the reliability of other very late Neanderthal assemblages in
the region.
Representative publications
·Wood, R.E., Barroso-Ruiz, C., Caparros, M., Jorda.
J.F., Galvan Santos, B., Higham, T.F.G. (2013) Radiocarbon
dating casts doubt on the late chronology of the Middle to Upper
Palaeolithic transition in southern Iberia, Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
·Wood, R.E., Higham T.F.G., Torres, T,
Tisnerat-Laborde, N., Valladas, H., Ortiz, J.E., Lalueza-Fox,
C., Sanchez-Moral, S., Canaveras, J.C., Roses, A., Santamaria,
D., de la Rasilla, M., (2013). A new date for the Neanderthals
from El Sidron Cave (Asturias, Northern Spain). Archaeometry.
55(1), 148-158.
·Higham, T., Basell, L., Jacobi, L., Wood, R., Bronk
Ramsey, C., Conard, N.J., (2012). Testing models for the
beginnings of the Aurignacian and the advent of figurative art
and music: The radiocarbon chronology of Geisenklosterle.
Journal of Human Evolution, 62(6), 664-676
·Higham, T.F.G, Jacobi, R.M, Julien, M., David, F.,
Basell, L.S., Wood, R.E., Davies, W. Bronk Ramsey, C. (2010),
The evolution of Neanderthal symbolic behaviour: new evidence
from the Grotte du Renne at Arcy-sur-Cure, France, Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of
America, 107(47), 20234-20239
·Zilhão, J., Angelucci, D.E., Badal-García, E.,
d’Errico, F., Daniel, F., Dayet, L., Douka, K., Higham,
T.F.G., Martínez-Sánchez, M.J., Montes-Bernárdez, R.,
Murcia-Mascarós, S., Pérez-Sirvent, C., Roldán-García, C.,
Vanhaeren, M., Villaverde, V., Wood, R., Zapata, J., (2010),
Symbolic use of marine shells and mineral pigments by Iberian
Neandertals, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of
the United States of America, doi: 10.1073/pnas.0914088107
Australian
Archaeology
I am currently attempting to radiocarbon date some
of the earliest human occupations of south eastern Australia.
Sites such as Cloggs Cave, Victoria (excavated by Josephine
Flood) and Burrill Lake, NSW, were dated in the 1970s using
conventional methods. At <30 ka cal BP, they appear
significantly younger than the earliest sites elsewhere in
Australia. I aim to test whether this is an artefact of the very
old radiocarbon dating originally undertaken. I have started
working at Cloggs Cave (with Jo Flood), but this is a proving to
be a challenge as bone and charcoal preservation is extremely
poor, requiring new protocols to be introduced into the
laboratory. I am also involved with a project lead by Nicola
Stern who is surveying and excavating in the iconic landscape of
Lake Mungo.
Representative publications
In progress
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