CONSENSUS DATING OF MAMMOTH REMAINS FROM WRANGEL ISLAND

Previous results from remains of tusks, teeth and bones collected from Wrangel Island (Vartanyan et at 1995) had given results in the range 3730 BP to 20,000 BP and the authors had concluded that ''mammoths inh abited Wrangel Island for as long as 6000 yr after the estimated extin ction on the Siberian continent''. There still remained the question o f the earliest date for such remains. Further, the authors had noted s uch samples may present some difficulty in dating and therefore duplic ate samples had been measured in a second laboratory with satisfactory results. The replicate dating of important or controversial samples i n more than one laboratory is well-established (e.g., Turin Shroud) an d in this paper, we present results for 5 mammoth samples dated by 6 l aboratories. Such interlaboratory comparisons provide an independent m eans of verification of laboratory comparability, and give added confi dence in the results, particularly when applied to more controversial samples. A further objective of the work has been to evaluate the mate rial for inclusion in any large-scale interlaboratory comparison, such comparisons having in the past formed part of laboratory quality assu rance protocols. The design and organization of a laboratory intercomp arison requires homogeneous samples in sufficient quantity to satisfy participants, and so in principle, a single mammoth tusk would meet th ese criteria. Samples such as the mammoth tusk have been used in previ ous intercomparisons: e.g., in the last large-scale international inte rcomparison (Gulliksen and Scott 1995), whalebone was one of the mater ials distributed. One of the key advantages of such material is that a single sample (a mammoth tusk) can be resampled for analysis by multi ple labs and thus does not require bulk homogenization. Therefore, as part of a preselection process for a future intercomparison, five samp les from separate mammoth tusks were collected from Wrangel Island in 1995 in sufficient quantity to allow multiple dating. The aim was to i dentify five separate samples of young age, sample up to 1 kg from eac h tusk and mark the location so that after preliminary dating, samples could be retrieved as required in the future. Six laboratories receiv ed samples for dating. The paper will discuss the results from the lab oratories, present consensus values, and make recommendations concerni ng use of these samples in a future laboratory intercomparison.