INTERPRETATION OF THE RESULTS OF RADIOCARBON DATING OF HUMAN REMAINS FROM NOTTINGHAM CASTLE (original) (raw)
This report relates to radiocarbon dating of a sample from a human skeleton encountered during an excavation at Nottingham Castle in 1978 and further investigated in 2016. The sample was submitted to the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, in May 2016, for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating. The radiocarbon dating aimed to verify or refute the belief that the individual was a casualty of the English Civil War. Prior to the radiocarbon dating it had been speculated that the individual may have been one of two men described in Memoirs of The Life of Colonel Hutchinson, written by Lucy Hutchinson, one of whom died during, and the second shortly after, a siege at Nottingham Castle in September 1643. This work was undertaken independent of an archaeological excavation in June 2016 to recover the remainder of the skeletal remains, although this work will complement the results of the excavation and contribute towards a larger research project to understand the burial, the individual and their role within the castle. During the excavations in 1978 and 2016 no conclusive dating evidence was found within the grave and therefore radiocarbon dating is considered the best means of dating the human remains. The results of the radiocarbon dating are complicated by the presence of a high marine/freshwater fish component in the individual’s diet. Such a diet impacts upon the proportions of nitrogen and oxygen within the isotopes and distorts the calibration of the date range. Initially the radiocarbon dating indicated the individual was not a Civil War casualty, having been buried before the outbreak of war. The results offered a timeframe of between 1445 and 1630 calAD (with 95.4% probability) with a higher likelihood (66.8% probability) that the individual was buried between 1445 and 1523 calAD and a 28.6% probability of burial between 1572 and 1630. However, making allowances for the effect of the diet, a revised calculation indicated the burial dated to between 1483 and 1647 (with 95.4% probability) with a higher likelihood (68.2% probability) that the individual was buried between 1520 and 1637 calAD. In conjunction with the known history of the castle, which was largely unoccupied in the early 17th century, save for victims of what was described as plague who lived in caves cut into the Castle Rock, until the Civil War, the burial would appear to be of very late medieval/early post-medieval date. Research into the diets and burial practices of soldiers during the Civil War also suggests it is unlikely the individual died during that period of conflict. Although an association with the Civil War cannot be ruled out, on statistical grounds the date of burial is weighted towards the late 15th/16th century. A circumstantial argument can be presented, on the basis of known documentary sources, to support this. It is hoped that detailed research of the available documentary evidence may shed further light upon the date and context of the burial.
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