Bente Philippsen
Research
I am the leader of the National Laboratory for Age Determination, where we develop and apply AMS radiocarbon dating, dendrochronology and stable isotope analyses.
My research focuses on radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analyses. I apply those methods to answer questions from archaeology, history and ecology.
Absolute dating methods such as radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology can put events, people and developments on the timeline of history, even though they might be invisible in written sources. With absolute dates, we can compare historical and events and developments with environemental changes to study causes and effects. We can compare the histories of different regions, even though they didn't have a tradition for historiography.
I combine radiocarbon and dendro-dates with contextual information in Bayesian age models to increase dating precision. The contextual information includes archaeological information such as site stratigraphy or artefact typology as well as historical dates or family relations reconstructed by aDNA analysis.
By studying the carbon cycle of the past, I try to unravel the complex relationships between humans, animals, and the environment. I work at enhancing our understanding of human-environment interactions, subsistence strategies, ancient dietary habits and cuisines.
For studies of the present carbon cycle, we use radiocarbon dating and d13C analysis to determine the proportions of fossil vs. biogenic carbon in various fuels, to monitor the effects of carbon capture in nature restoration or with technological methods, or to study the growth of plants and diet of animals.