Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The paper presents the AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry) radiocarbon dating investigation of the historic Derby Boab Tree from Derby, Kimberley, Australia. This well-known boab (Adansonia gregorii) is frequently considered a prison tree, where Aboriginal prisoners were temporarily incarcerated in its cavity. According to recent research, the Derby Boab Tree was not used as a prison tree. The boab has a closed ring-shaped structure, with 3 perfectly fused stems enclosing a false cavity. A number of six punctiform wood samples, of the size of a grain of sand, were collected from the cavity door wall. The radiocarbon date of the oldest dated punctiform sample was 1285 ± 21 BP, a value which corresponds to a calibrated age of 1185 ± 20 calendar years. This result indicates that the age of the Derby Boab Tree is 1250 ± 50 years. This is the first accurate dating result of a boab and demonstrates that the species is a millennial angiosperm.
Authors: Adrian Patrut, Laszlo Rakosy, Karl F. Von Reden, NOSAMS Facility, Dept. of Geology & Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, U.S.A.
Institutions: Babeș-Bolyai University, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Language: English
Subfield: Paleontology
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4406310605