Radiocarbon dating of the fen deposits at Cors Wern Goch, Coedydd Aber NNR, North Wales

Three radiocarbon assays from the Cors Wern Goch pollen sequence (Hughes and Grant 2005) were sampled, processed and submitted to Beta Analytic inc. for analysis. The base of the pollen sequence dates to between 2710- 2340 calendar years before present (cal. BP). A second age estimate placed at 69.5 cm depth in the peat profile gives a very similar age estimate of 2710-2350 cal. BP. These two dates are probably similar because they fall on a plateau in the radiocarbon timescale, caused by changing levels of atmospheric 14C over time. The Uppermost radiocarbon date at 48.5 cm depth gives an age estimate of 2040-1820 cal. BP. The upper peat strata were not dated because of the risk of contamination by modern radioactive carbon derived from atomic weapons tests. The results of the radiocarbon dating programme suggest that the peat profile dates from the late-Bronze Age / early-Iron Age with the main anthropogenic disturbance indicators increasing during the Iron Age