New dates for first millennium BC tephra isochrones in Ireland

Three distinct, first millennium BC tephras (BMR-190, OMH-185, GB4-150) have been recognized in Irish peat deposits, including a previously undated ash (BMR-190). We present the results of a programme of high-precision C-14 wiggle-matching on a peat profile containing all three tephras from Glen West, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The wiggle-match provides highly refined dates of 705-585 cal. BC for BMR-190, 755-680 cal. BC for OMH-185 and 800-758 cal. BC for GB4-150. The tephras constitute valuable, widespread isochrones for palaeoecological research across the first millennium BC, when a prolonged (14) C calibration plateau between 750 and 400 cal. BC presents a major problem to dating and correlating palaeoenvironmental events from multisite, multiproxy studies of the period.