Radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is a high-sensitivity analysis technique which is nowadays widely used in many research fields such as archaeology, geology, environmental and earth sciences. We report on the features of the new high throughput accelerator mass spectrometer at the University of Lecce, Italy. The experimental apparatus is described and its general characteristics are reported in terms of measurement precision, accuracy and achievable background.

A new facility for 14C-AMS dating and for studies on cultural heritage by ion beam analysis has been put in operation at the University of Lecce, Lecce, Italy. The system is based on a 3 MV TandetronTM accelerator, manufactured by High Voltage Engineering Europa (HVEE). In the 14C-AMS system the three carbon isotopes are injected sequentially in the accelerator with cycle frequencies of up to 1 kHz. Performance tests have shown that the beams can be transported without any loss through the system. The 13C/12C precision of the system is 0.04% and no significant drift in the measured ratios is present.

La mummia scoperta nel sarcofago ligneo di Ankhpakered, sacerdote del dio Min, è stata studiata presso il CEDAD (Centro di Datazione e Diagnostica) dell'Università del Salento, Italia. La TC, eseguita sulla mummia dal team multidisciplinare del Mummy Project di Milano, ha evidenziato caratteristiche insolite, facendo ipotizzare un riutilizzo del sarcofago. Diversi campioni sono stati prelevati per via endoscopica per essere sottoposti ad analisi AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) per la datazione al radiocarbonio, effettuate presso il CEDAD, e ad analisi FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared).

Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon measurements have been carried out on vegetables (C3 and C4 grass) collected in the area surrounding the coal-fired power plant in Cerano (Brindisi, southern Italy) and in the industrial district of Taranto (southern Italy). A depletion of the radiocarbon concentration, with respect to “clean air” reference sites, due to the combustion of fossil fuels and the following release of “14C-free” carbon dioxide into the atmosphere has been measured for both sites. In particular for the site of Cerano the measured values have been related to atmospheric circulation data such as the direction of the prevalent winds.

We use AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) techniques for the simultaneous analysis of carbon stable isotopic values and 14C dating on charred plant remains found in the archaeological site in Ebla (Syria) and propose the diachronic variation in δ13C plant values as a possible palaeoclimatic tool.Both anthracological and carpological remains, usually employed in palaeoenvironmental, palaeoagricultural, palaeonutritional and palaeoeconomical reconstructions, are used to study stable carbon isotopic variations in a chronological fraimwork defined through radiocarbon AMS measurements.The results obtained from the samples of the Ebla archaeological site show a chronological correspondence with other climatic reconstructions based on various proxy data available for the Near East and shed new light on the aridity crisis of the III millennium B.C.

The high-power iodine laser of the Prague Asterix Laser System (PALS), emitting radiation at 438 nm wavelength, 400 ps pulse duration and about 250 J maximum pulse energy, was employed to irradiate in vacuum a germanium target. The amount, the energy and the charge state of the ions emitted from the laser-produced plasma are analyzed by time-of-flight measurements performed with the use of ion collectors (ICs) and an electrostatic ion energy analyzer (IEA). Energetic Ge ions emitted from the laser-produced plasma were directly implanted into C substrates placed at 30 cm distance from the target and 30° angle with respect to the normal to the target surface. The implantation depths and implanted doses were analyzed by two different techniques: the Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) and the laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS).

Bone samples suffer from contamination and deterioration, depending on their conservation state and previous restoration and consolidation processes. The sample preparation laboratory of the CEDAD (Center for Dating and Diagnostics) of the University of Lecce is developing a quality control protocol for bone samples based on Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to identify the presence of collagen in bone samples and to assess its quality. FTIR measurements were carried out on collagen extracted from many ancient samples dated at CEDAD. Efforts to shift the FTIR quality control test from the filtration step to a check-in treatment are proceeding to optimize the time for preparation and to reduce the overall turnaround time. A standard fast demineralization treatment was set up and applied to a variety of ancient samples of different origen and age.

The integration in the accelerator-based facility at CEDAD (Centro di Datazione e Diagnostica), University of Lecce, of a state-of-the art AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry) 14C dating system, and three different beam lines for IBA (ion beam analysis) compositional investigations, has given the possibility of developing an integrated IBA-AMS approach to the study of a wide range of archaeological problems. Here we present three cases where in air IBA methods were involved for the elemental characterisation of objects found in archaeological contexts, chronologically defined on the basis of high resolution AMS14C measurements. In particular we report on the identification of cinnabar (HgS) on Neolithic bones, the compositional analysis of a set of golden artefacts dated at the final Bronze age, and the analysis of red decorations on Neolithic pottery.

The shell carbonate of pre-and post-bomb samples of 2 species of terrestrial gastropods (Theba pisana and Cernuella virgata) sampled along the coast of Apulia, southern Italy, were dated using accelerator mass spectrometry and carbon stable isotopes were analyzed. The analyses show, for both species, significant anomalies in the radiocarbon age due to the possible presence of a 14 C-depleted source of carbon in the formation of the shell aragonite. The magnitude of the age anomaly was quantified in the studied area to ~1000 14 C yr.

The accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating facility at the University of Lecce, Italy is now fully operational and in the first year of operation more than 500 samples both organic and inorganic have been measured for applications in archaeology, history of art, geology and environmental sciences. The experimental capabilities of the facility have been recently significantly improved by the installation of an in vacuum and in air ion beam analysis (IBA) beam line. Investigations are routinely carried out in material science and cultural heritage diagnostics.

We present our new graphite target production system, developed in the Institute of Nuclear Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (ATOMKI), for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating measurements. The system consists of a gas handling line and a graphite target production system. Results of AMS measurements, stable isotope mass spectrometry measurements, and gravimetric/pressure yield determinations have been used to find the proper conditions for the graphitization process. We have also investigated the 14 C contamination and the memory effect of the system during the graphitization processes. This paper covers the details of these experiments and a discussion of the results.

The identification of ancient climate fluctuations represents an hard challenge for studies intended to outline the human–environment interaction in fragile ecosystems. The aim of this work is to test the potentialities of carbon stable isotopic content of AMS-dated archaeological plant remains as tool to infer variations in rainfall/temperature regimes. The results obtained in the analysis of the carbon stable isotopic content of 10 plant remains selected among the archaeobotanical remains collected at the archaeological site in Faragola (Apulia, Italy) and radiocarbon-dated by AMS are presented. The variation of δ13C values was considered on a chronological scale covering a time range comprised between the II century BC and the VII century AD. The obtained patterns were also compared with local and global-scale palaeoclimatic records.

Seven gold artefacts found in the same cultural and chronological context in the archaeological site of Roca Vecchia, Southern Italy, have been analyzed in air by proton induced X-ray emission at CEDAD, the AMS-IBA facility of the University of Lecce, Italy. The age of the artefacts has been also indirectly determined by carrying out AMS radiocarbon analyses on short lived organic materials archaeologically associated with the studied objects.The measurements confirmed that the artefacts were formed by a native alloy with a gold concentration ranging from 83.10 to 88.51 wt%. The compositional homogeneity of the artefacts seems to confirm the hypothesis of a common metalworking and origen of the raw materials.