Freshwater fish diet skews radiocarbon dates for medieval Danish skeletons
A Danish-Dutch team found freshwater fish in ancient diets can make human bones appear hundreds of years older than they truly are.
Skeleton III9B defies monastery timeline
Radiocarbon dating once placed the death of skeleton III9B between A.D. 1100 and 1155 in Svendborg. This date contradicts records showing the local Franciscan monastery was not founded until 1236. Researchers now believe freshwater fish consumption caused this significant error in the scientific timeline.
Five other burials show same error
Professor Kaare Lund Rasmussen states that five additional skeletons from Denmark were incorrectly dated using standard methods. One burial at Viborg monastery showed a date range ending in A.D. 976, over two centuries before the building existed. Three other cases occurred at the Cistercian monastery located at Øm within the same country.
Old carbon from sediments causes issue
Freshwater fish contain less carbon-14 because old carbon releases from lake sediments and river banks. When people eat these fish, that carbon incorporates into their bones and distorts the radiocarbon results. The research team published a warning in the journal npj Heritage Science to alert other archaeologists.
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