The radiocarbon dates
have been returned from the peat samples sent off for dating at the Scottish Universities
Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) labs. Two dates, one from the base of the
core taken at 7.48m and one taken at 2.48m have added important information to
the chronology of the peat deposit sequence. These dates compliment the two
previous dates we have from the site, which were taken during the assessment
stage.
All four of the dates
we currently have are shown in the table. The dates returned from the peat
samples show that peat accumulation began at the site during the Early Holocene
at approximately 8709-8488 cal BC (SUERC-37141) and continued to accumulate,
through into the Post Medieval period at cal AD 1420-1620 (SUERC-32308) and
given the depth this sample was taken from is probably still continuing to
accumulate today.
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| Radiocarbon dating results from Red Loch, Isle of Bute |
The radiocarbon dates
from Red Loch can be plotted against peat depth to make an age/depth graph for
the sequence (see graph). This graph assumes the accumulation of peat at Red
Loch has been uniform over time between the radiocarbon dated levels in order
to allow for a rough calculation of which periods the non-dated areas of the
core represent. There is clearly a margin of error made based on this
assumption, which is illustrated by the two bottom dates as they lie some
distance from the overall trend line (linear) for peat accumulation. Further
radiocarbon dating of the core in the future would aid in refining this
chronology even further and help to narrow the margin of error in locating
archaeological periods within the core. For now though this is evidently a
useful chronological guide in showing which periods are represented by the Red
Loch sequence.
