Radiocarbon Dating of Prehistoric Shell from New Zealand and Calculation of the DR Value Using Fish Otoliths

We calculated a new DR for New Zealand waters using ¹⁴C dates of historic shell previously presented by McFadgen and Manning (1990), and fish otoliths dated by Kalish (1993). We obtained a new estimate of -25 ± 15 ¹⁴C yr. To test the accuracy of this value for correcting conventional ¹⁴C marine ages, we dated shell of a variety of different species excavated at the prehistoric site of Shag Mouth, North Otago. We compared the results with a pooled mean date for terrestrial samples and calculated a local DR value that we found statistically indistinguishable from the new DR estimate for New Zealand.

[Radiocarbon Volume 37, Number 2, 1995]