Doctoral research student

Ricardo Fernandes (Portugal)

M.Sc. in Earth Sciences

rfernandes@gshdl.uni-kiel.de

Improving Chronologies based on Radiocarbon Dating of Bones: Isotopic Indications of Reservoir Age and Diet.

Accurate chronologies are needed to interpret regional differences in monumentality and variations in the chronologies of micro-regions of the Neolithic Funnel Beaker Culture that created monumentality. Bones can yield genetic information, which may be implemented to reconstruct past societies, for example by providing radiocarbon dates to generate such chronologies. Yet, some bones date older than associated plant material, indicating a reservoir age due to eating fish or shellfish. Unfortunately, this reservoir age is highly variable making bone ages uncertain. However, fish and shell fish differ from terrestrial food sources in 14C, 13C and 15N. Accurate determinations of the presence of these isotopes may be specifically deployed to provide dietary information for estimations of reservoir ages and, in turn, to obtain more reliable ages for chronology.

Measurements of 14C in animal bones (herbivore and aquatic) and macro fossils associated with human skeletons will directly yield the reservoir ages of the bones studied in the SPP 1400 projects. These results will lead to more reliable chronologies in support of the interpretation of genetic lineages and their implications for the social and cultural structures of Neolithic communities. The findings will also enable a better comparison of contemporaneous social and cultural developments in different regions, and improved interpretation of their implications for the social and cultural structures of Neolithic communities. Systematic differences in isotopic composition combined with directly measured reservoir ages will indicate differences in diet, which may be related to geographical location, sex, age or social status of the Neolithic Funnel Beaker societies and populations.

Since November 2009
Member of the Graduate School “Human Development in Landscapes” at the Christian- Albrechts-University Kiel.

October 2007 - December 2009
Master in Earth Sciences - specialization Archaeometry with a Minor in Mediterranean and Near East Archaeology at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.

September 2004 - September 2007
Bachelor degree in Physics.

September 2008 - July 2009
Researcher at the RCE (Dutch Cultural Agency) in Amersfoort, Netherlands.

August 2008 - September 2008
Implementing an intra-site GIS recording system at the Late Minoan/Early Iron Age site of Karphi (Crete, Greece) under the supervision of Dr. Krzysztof Nowicki

June 2008
Archaeological field work at the Roman/Medieval site of Someren (The Netherlands), under the supervision of Dr. Joris Aarts (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam).

January 2008
Geophysical prospection to locate medieval remains at Rumpt (The Netherlands), under the supervision of Dr. Steven Soetens (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam).

July 2008 - August 2008
Archaelogical field work at the Roman iron production site of „Ferrum Noricum“ at Knappenberg- Hutenberg (Austria), under the supervision of Dr. Brigitte Cech (University of Vienna, University College London).

September 2006 - September 2007
Computer programmer at the IFIMUP (Institute for Physics of Materials of the University of Porto, Portugal)

2011
Fernandes, R., Geeven, G., Soetens, S., Klontza-Jaklova, V.: Deletion /Substitution/Addition (DSA) Model Selection Algorithm Applied To The Study Of Archaeological Settlement Patterning, In: Journal of Archaeological Science Volume 38, Issue 9, 2293-2300.

2009
"Study on Roman and Merovingian copper alloyed artefacts. In soil corrosion processes and recycling practices", IGBA rapport 2009-12, pp. 235.

2009
"Μαθηματικά μοντέλα πρόβλεψης στην αρχαιολογία: Δυνατότητες και προβλήματα.", (Archaeological Predictive Modelling: Potentialities and Problems). Αμάλθεια (Almatheia). 40/158-159, pp. 27 - 32.

2009
"New ideas in predictive modelling: a Minoan case study.", SOJA 2009 (Symposium Onderzoek Jonge Archeologen - Research Symposium for Young Archaeologists ), 13 March 2009 (Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands).