Our lab needs you! Request for Collections containing Bivalves Collected Before 1950 from the UK
Dr Rachel Wood, Director of the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, is trying to find bivalve shells collected from the coasts of Cornwall to northern England. Read her full blog call for action here, writing for the Natural Sciences Collections Association.
Specifically the bivalves need to have:
- a known collection year
- been collected live or shortly after death; they should have a pair of valves or some of the organic material or animal preserved.
- a known collection location
- be a filter/suspension feeder
- be suitable for destructive sampling; we need about 20mg to date from the outer edge of the shell (a strip about a cm long and a few mm wide).
Rachel has looked through a few collections, and found that most shell collectors in this period collected from Cornwall, the Solent and the Chanel Islands. She has so far only found three suitable shells from the east coast, all from the Leeds Museum and Galleries.
If anyone knows of a collection which may contain something suitable – particularly if it from the east coast, please do get in contact. We love visiting museums, and would be delighted to help come and look through a collection with you.
You can find out more about the project on our webpage: https://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk
