People

 Ricardo Fernandes, Alumni

Alumnus

Ricardo Fernandes (Portugal)

M.Sc. in Earth Sciences

PhD project
Challenges, approaches and opportunities in radiocarbon reservoir effects
Accurate chronologies are needed to interpret regional differences in monumentality and variations in the chronologies of micro-regions of the Neolithic Funnel Beaker Culture that created monumentality. Bones can yield genetic information, which may be implemented to reconstruct past societies, for example by providing radiocarbon dates to generate such chronologies. Yet, some bones date older than associated plant material, indicating a reservoir age due to eating fish or shellfish. Unfortunately, this reservoir age is highly variable making bone ages uncertain. However, fish and shell fish differ from terrestrial food sources in 14C, 13C and 15N. Accurate determinations of the presence of these isotopes may be specifically deployed to provide dietary information for estimations of reservoir ages and, in turn, to obtain more reliable ages for chronology.

Measurements of 14C in animal bones (herbivore and aquatic) and macro fossils associated with human skeletons will directly yield the reservoir ages of the bones studied in the SPP 1400 projects. These results will lead to more reliable chronologies in support of the interpretation of genetic lineages and their implications for the social and cultural structures of Neolithic communities. The findings will also enable a better comparison of contemporaneous social and cultural developments in different regions, and improved interpretation of their implications for the social and cultural structures of Neolithic communities. Systematic differences in isotopic composition combined with directly measured reservoir ages will indicate differences in diet, which may be related to geographical location, sex, age or social status of the Neolithic Funnel Beaker societies and populations.
Research interests Radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon reservoir effects. Bayesian statistics. Diet reconstruction. Isotopes in archaeology. Archaeomaterials. Ancient technology, Mediterranean Archaeology.
Post PhD Position Visiting Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research (University of Cambridge), Post-Doctoral researcher at the Institute for Ecosystem Research and the Leibniz-Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Isotope Research (University of Kiel).
Education

Present
Visiting Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research (University of Cambridge) under a grant from the Royal Society.

Present
Post-Doctoral researcher at the Institute for Ecosystem Research and the Leibniz-Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Isotope Research (University of Kiel) under a grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG).

2013
PhD in Natural Sciences at the University of Kiel (Kiel, Germany). PhD topic: “Challenges, approaches, and opportunities in radiocarbon reservoir effects”. Concluded with Summa Cum Laude distinction.

2009
Master Degree in GeoArchaeology at the Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). Thesis: “Provenancing and degradation studies of bronze artefacts”. Concluded with Cum Laude distinction.

2009
Minor in Mediterranean and Near East Archaeology at the Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam, The Netherlands).

2007
Bachelor Degree in Physics at Faculdade de Ciencias, Universidade do Porto (Porto, Portugal). Thesis: "Monte Carlo in disorder cooperative systems”.

Work experience

23/07/2011 – 07/08/2011
Athenian Agora (Athens, Greece). Under the direction of Dr. John McK. Camp II (American School of Classical Studies at Athens).

18/07/2010 – 02/08/2010
Geophysical prospection in the vicinity of the village of Albersdorf and island of Föhr (Schleswig-Holstein, Germany). Under the direction of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Rabbel (Kiel University).

01/08/2008 – 11/09/2008
Late Minoan/Early Iron Age site of Karphi (Crete, Greece). Under the direction of Dr. Krzysztof Nowicki (British School of Athens/University of Reading/ Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam).

16/06/2008 – 27/06/2008
Multi-period site: Neolithic, Roman and Medieval (Someren, The Netherlands). Under the direction of Dr. Joris Aarts (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam).

28/01/2008 – 29/01/2008
Geophysical prospection in the vicinity of Rumpt (The Netherlands). Under the direction of Dr. Steven Soetens (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam).

14/07/2007 – 02/08/2007
Roman iron production site “Ferrum Noricum” (Knappenberg-Hutenberg, Austria). Under the direction of Dr. Brigitte Cech in cooperation with elements from the University of Vienna and University College London.

Selected publications

in press
“EDTA based protocols for the cleaning of ancient bone bioapatite”, In: Scott R., Braekmans D., Carremans M., Degryse P., Proceedings of the 39th International Symposium for Archaeometry, (in press). Fernandes, R., Nadeau, M-J., Grootes, P.M.

2014
Food Reconstruction Using Isotopic Transferred Signals (FRUITS): a Bayesian model for diet reconstruction”, PLOS ONE (2014), vol. 9(2): e87436. Fernandes R., Millard A.R., Brabec M., Nadeau M-J., Grootes P.M.

2013
“The use of Hand-Held XRF for investigating the composition and corrosion of Roman copper-alloyed artefacts”, Heritage Science (2013), vol. 1(30). Fernandes R., van Os B.H.J., Huisman H.D.J.

2013
“Investigating the correlation between monthly average temperatures and tithe proxy data from the Low Countries”, Climatic Change (2013), vol. 119(2) pp. 291-306. de Kraker A., Fernandes R.

2013
“A freshwater lake saga: carbon routing within the aquatic food web of Lake Schwerin”, Radiocarbon (2013), vol. 55(2-3) pp. 1102-1113. Fernandes R., Dreves A., Nadeau M-J., Grootes P.M.

2012
"Dating the finds contained in the cenotaph of Queen Editha", In: Meller H., Schenkluhn W., Schmul B.E.H. (eds.), Archäologie in Sachsen-Anhalt Sonderband: Königin Editha (2012), pp. 157-168. Nadeau M-J., Hüls M., Grootes P.M., Fernandes R., Kromer B., Lindauer S.

2012
“Macronutrient-based-model for dietary carbon routing in bone collagen and bioapatite”, Journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2012), vol. 4(4) pp. 291-301. Fernandes R., Nadeau M-J., Grootes P.M.

2012
“Revisiting the chronology of northern German monumentality sites: preliminary results”, Megaliths and Identities”, In: Hinz M., Müller J., Lüth F. (eds.), Frühe Monumentalität und soziale Differenzierung, Band 2, Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH (2012), pp. 87-103. Fernandes R., Rinne C., Nadeau M-J., Grootes P.M.

2012
“Mussels with Meat: bivalve tissue-shell radiocarbon age differences and archaeological implications”, Radiocarbon (2012), vol. 54(3-4) pp. 953-965. Fernandes R., Bergemann S., Hartz S., Grootes P.M., Nadeau M-J., Melzner F., Rakowski A., Hüls M.

2012
“Testing an alternative high-throughput tool for investigating bone diagenesis: FTIR in attenuated total reflection (ATR) mode”, Archaeometry (2012), vol. 55(3) pp. 507–532. Hollund H.I., Ariese F., Fernandes, R., Jans M.M.E., Kars H.

2012
“Assessing screening criteria for the radiocarbon dating of bone mineral”, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B (2012), vol. 294 pp. 226–232. Fernandes R., Hüls M., Nadeau M-J., Grootes P.M., Garbe-Schönberg D., Hollund H.I., Lotnyk A., Kienle L.

2012
“Mapping the probability of settlement location for the Malia-Lasithi region (Crete, Greece) during the Minoan Protopalatial period”, In: Kluiving, S.J., & E.B. Guttmann-Bond (eds.), Landscape Archaeology between Art and Science – From a multi- to an interdisciplinary approach, Landscape & Heritage Series, Proceedings, Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam (2012), pp. 353-368. Fernandes R., Geeven G., Soetens S., Klontza-Jaklova V.

2011
Fernandes, R., Geeven, G., Soetens, S., Klontza-Jaklova, V.: Deletion /Substitution/Addition (DSA) Model Selection Algorithm Applied To The Study Of Archaeological Settlement Patterning, In: Journal of Archaeological Science Volume 38, Issue 9, 2293-2300.

2009
"New ideas in predictive modelling: a Minoan case study.", SOJA 2009 (Symposium Onderzoek Jonge Archeologen - Research Symposium for Young Archaeologists ), 13 March 2009 (Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands).

2009
"Study on Roman and Merovingian copper alloyed artefacts. In soil corrosion processes and recycling practices", IGBA rapport 2009-12, pp. 235.

2009
"Μαθηματικά μοντέλα πρόβλεψης στην αρχαιολογία: Δυνατότητες και προβλήματα.", (Archaeological Predictive Modelling: Potentialities and Problems). Αμάλθεια (Almatheia). 40/158-159, pp. 27 - 32.

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