RADIOCARBON DATING OF THE HISTORIC GRAND BAOBAB OF MAHAJANGA, MADAGASCAR

Adrian PATRUT; Roxana T. PATRUT; Laszlo RAKOSY; Ileana Andreea RATIU; Pascal DANTHU; Jean-Michel LEONG POCK TSY; Karl F. Von REDEN

doi:10.24193/subbchem.2023.1.09

RADIOCARBON DATING OF THE HISTORIC GRAND BAOBAB OF MAHAJANGA, MADAGASCAR

Authors

Adrian PATRUT Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, 11 Arany Janos, RO-400028, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Babeş-Bolyai University, Raluca Ripan Institute for Research in Chemistry, 30 Fantanele, RO-400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania. apatrut@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9862-6735
Roxana T. PATRUT Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, 11 Arany Janos, RO-400028, Cluj-Napoca, Romania https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8691-2160
Laszlo RAKOSY Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Biology and Geology, 44 Republicii, RO-400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania. laszlo.rakosy@ubbcluj.ro https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7793-6996
Ileana Andreea RATIU Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, 11 Arany Janos, RO-400028, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Babeş-Bolyai University, Raluca Ripan Institute for Research in Chemistry, 30 Fantanele, RO-400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania. andreea.ratiu@ubbcluj.ro
Pascal DANTHU Cirad, UPR HortSys, Montpellier, France
Jean-Michel LEONG POCK TSY Drfgrn-fofifa, Antananarivo, Madagascar
Karl F. Von REDEN NOSAMS Facility, Dept. of Geology & Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6413-9018

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbchem.2023.1.09

Keywords:

AMS radiocarbon dating, Adansonia digitata, dendrochronology, Madagascar, age determination, multiple stems.

Abstract

The article reports the AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry) radiocarbon investigation of the historic Grand Baobab of Mahajanga. The largest African baobab of Madagascar exhibits a cluster structure, which consists of 6 fused ordinary stems and of 3 small binding stems. Two samples were collected from the largest stem and from a primary branch, out of which several tiny segments were extracted and dated by radiocarbon. The oldest dated sample segment had a radiocarbon date of 214 ± 17 BP, which corresponds to a calibrated age of 265 ± 25 calendar years. The dating results indicate that the Grand Baobab of Mahajanga is 275 ± 25 years old.

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STUDIA UBB CHEMIA, Volume 68 (LXVIII), No. 1, March 2023

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Published

2023-03-27

How to Cite

PATRUT, A., PATRUT, R. T., RAKOSY, L., RATIU, I. A., DANTHU, P., LEONG POCK TSY, J.-M., & REDEN, K. F. V. (2023). RADIOCARBON DATING OF THE HISTORIC GRAND BAOBAB OF MAHAJANGA, MADAGASCAR. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Chemia, 68(1), 119–129. https://doi.org/10.24193/subbchem.2023.1.09