RADIOCARBON AGE OF THE KAHAROA TEPHRA, A KEY MARKER FOR LATE-HOLOCENESTRATIGRAPHY AND ARCHAEOLOGY IN NEW-ZEALAND

The Kaharoa eruption, the most recent rhyolitic volcanic event in New Zealand: resulted in the deposition of the compositionally distinctive Kaharoa Tephra over at least 30 000 km(2) of northern and eastern Nor th Island. The tephra forms an isochronous marker bed for various late -Holocene stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental studies but is particu larly important for evaluating the chronology of New Zealand's notably short prehistory because it was erupted within the last millennium, c lose to the time of first Polynesian colonization. We derive a definit ive radiocarbon age, previously ambiguous, for the Kaharoa Tephra of 6 65 +/- 15 BP using cluster analysis of 22 radiocarbon ages relevant to the Kaharoa eruptive episode. The error-weighted mean age obtained on unscreened ages, minus outliers. is supported by statistically identi cal ages obtained from three sets of screened ages selected to minimiz e the effects of inbuilt age or contamination. Based on the intercepts method and 1 sigma range of Northern Hemisphere calibration curves, a nd after subtraction of 27 years for the interhemispheric offset, the radiocarbon age 665 +/- 15 BP corresponds to calibrated dates ranging from c. 650-560 cal. BP (i.e. cal. AD 1300-1390). The approximate midp oint of this range provides a colloquial calendar date for the Kaharoa Tephra of c. 600 cal. BP (c. cal. Ad 1350).