ACCELERATE · ArChaeological and Climatic data from ELEmental ratios using Rapid Analysis of shell carbonaTE
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2016-05-01 → 2018-04-30
- EU contribution
- €152,653
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
ArChaeological and Climatic data from ELEmental ratios using Rapid Analysis of shell carbonaTE
ACCELERATE aimed to 1) develop a rapid and affordable technique to analyse palaeoclimatic information preserved in the elemental composition of shell carbonates; and 2) establish standardised ways of applying these techniques to large samples of marine molluscs from coastal shell-midden deposits around the world in order to reconstruct climate change and patterns of prehistoric of coastal subsistence. This kind of research has a long history and from the very beginning struggled with high sample costs and as a result with small datasets. We address these issues using Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), a method which rapidly acquires elemental spectra and is able to accurately map geochemical patterns within shells. Within ACCELERATE, we built an analytical LIBS system from old and new parts (some twenty years old) that is customised to work with mollusc shells from archaeological and geological contexts. Through collaborations and extensive experimental testing, we acquired preliminary data from dozens of mollusc species around the world to really see how we can practically address the variety of shells that can be found. This included not just size and shape, but also mineralogical differences and differences in growth rate and structure. Most importantly, we focused on species that are widely found in archaeological sites and that have a long history and climate studies. As such, we built a dataset around the limpet species Patella caerulea, that can be found in archaeological sites across the Mediterranean, and across time. This species has been dated to early human occupations from before the Ice Age, Roman periods, but also historical periods, which makes this species hugely interesting in terms of studying ecological changes and how human exploitation has influenced its populations throughout time. With our newly developed method we provide the tool to study climate at less than a percent of the cost of earlier studies and also on a much wider range and with a higher statistical robustness. This is invaluable for future decisions on how to prepare for and fight against climate change, how to protect coastal resources most efficiently, and also for the understanding of our shared past.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
ACCELERATE will develop a rapid and affordable technique using Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) to retrieve climatic information preserved in the elemental composition of marine mollusc shell carbonates and establish standardised ways of applying this technique to coastal shell-midden deposits around the world. This will combine the disciplines of Laser Spectroscopy, Climatology and Archaeology to advance the reconstruction of climate change, exploitation of coastal resources and human-landscape interactions at an unprecedented scale and resolution.Anthropogenic shell deposits are found in their thousands across the globe over the last 100,000 years. Locked within the shells are climatic records with a high resolution. This crucial information is currently inaccessible due to expensive and laborious techniques, resulting in small, unrepresentative studies and a lack of comparability between them.ACCELERATE will resolve this by developing LIBS, which will allow rapid chemical analyses, increasing the cost efficiency by a factor of 20, resulting in large datasets.The project will place the ER on an excellent career path because a) the developed method will be in high demand, b) the novel and interdisciplinary nature of the project will attract a wide network of collaborators, and c) the relevance to sites from different continents and periods will allow for wide dissemination of results. This will lay the foundation for affordable and comprehensive climate studies world-wide, which is closely related to Horizon 2020 policy priorities to understand and adapt to climate change.ACCELERATE will make use of the outstanding experimental and cutting edge research facilities at the host institution, IESL-FORTH, to develop an efficient method of producing climate data. The ER and FORTH will exploit and integrate their international contacts covering all continents to develop an international network and the foundation for comparative studies on a global scale.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- IDRYMA TECHNOLOGIAS KAI EREVNAS · IRAKLEIOCoordinatorGreece
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union