Research Fellow and AMS Laboratory Manager
g.barrett@qub.ac.uk
Current Research & Expertise
Dr Gerard Barrett is a Research Fellow in the School of Natural and Built Environment. He is responsible for the operation, optimization and maintenance of the accelerator mass spectrometer (NEC 0.5 MeV) at 14CHRONO. Gerard has a background in experimental and atomic physics (B.Sc – Trinity College Dublin, M.Sc – National University of Ireland, Maynooth) and has completed a masters and doctorate in the fields of archaeological dating and chronology.
Along with continual efforts to improve the accuracy and precision of the radiocarbon dates produced at 14CHRONO, he conducts research into dating methods for anthropogenic materials such as mortars, ceramics and museum artefacts using novel techniques such as ramped pyroxidation and rehydroxylation dating. He also has a keen interest in early fired clay ceramics, the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Europe, and the use and interpretation of radiocarbon dates in chronology building.
Publication sample (up to 2020)
Barrett, G. T., Donnelly, C., and Reimer, P. J. 2020a. Radiocarbon dating mortar: the identification of a medieval Irish round tower using a multi-method inter-comparative approach. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (submitted)
Daugbjerg, T. S., Lindroos, A., Heinemeier, J., Ringbom, Å., Barrett, G., D. Michalska, Hajdas, I., Raja, R., and Olsen. J. 2020. A field guide to mortar sampling for radiocarbon dating. Archaeometry (submitted)
Barrett, G. and Donnelly, C. 2019. Hiding in plain sight. Archaeology Ireland. 33 14-17
Barrett, G.T. 2017a. Rehydroxylation (RHX) dating: Trials on post-medieval brick using a component based approach. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 16 489-502 [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.01.026]
Barrett, G.T. 2017b. Rehydroxylation (RHX) dating: Mass loss issues due to incomplete drying, carbon content, and mineral alteration. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 16 472-488 [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.02.001]
Barrett, G.T. 2017c. Processes and kinetics of mass gain in archeological brick following drying and reheating. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. 100 3108-3121 [http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jace.14829]
Barrett, G.T. 2017d. Rehydroxylation (RHX) dating: Issues due to short term elevated temperature events. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 14 609-619 [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.06.041]
Barrett, G. 2013. Rehydroxylation dating of fired clay: an improved time-offset model to account for the effect of cooling on post-reheating mass gain. Journal of Archaeological Science 40 3596-3603
Van der Burgt, P. J. M., Mahon, F., Barrett, G. and L. Gradziel, M. 2014. Electron impact fragmentation of thymine:partial ionization cross sections for positive fragments. The European Physical Journal D – Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics. 68 151 https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2014-40699-0
ARCHAEOLOGY & PALAEOECOLOGY • School of Natural & Built Environment 