I have had some weird c14 results on bone from a site that is partially flooded on a seasonal basis. There are a nuclear power plant and an oil refinery further down in the same estuary. Could some potential water contamination have altered the carbon content of the archaeological samples?
Jay Y.S. Hodgson
You could easily test the nuclear contamination hypothesis by 137Cs dating the bone. Fossil fuels also have the Suess Effect on 14C dates.
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Tiberiu Bogdan Sava
Bone collagen would be difficult to be contaminated with enriched 14C. So, if the water carbon content could eventually be contaminated with enriched 14C, the collagen content would not suffer from this process. You can use also the ultrafiltration of the collagen, to be more safe.
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