20 YEARS OF AMS 14C DATING USING THE ARTEMIS FACILITY AT THE LMC14 NATIONAL LABORATORY: REVIEW OF SERVICE AND RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

ABSTRACT In 2001, five French public organizations (CNRS, CEA, IRD, IRSN, and the Ministère de la Culture) signed an agreement to purchase a new accelerator mass spectrometer to provide radiocarbon dating services at the national level. The Laboratoire de Mesure du Carbone 14 (LMC14) was set up in Saclay (France) around ARTEMIS, an AMS system based on a 3MV Pelletron from NEC and installed in early 2003. In 2015, the LMC14 joined the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, making it possible to develop research projects in addition to the service activity and since 2021, the LMC14 has been a member of the IAEA Collaborating Centre “Atoms for Heritage” at the Université Paris-Saclay. Since 2003, 70,000 samples have been measured. Two-thirds of the samples have been prepared on site and one-third in two associated laboratories in Paris and Lyon. Over the past years, the LMC14 has participated in several international inter-comparisons and has continuously improved its capabilities by developing new protocols for preparation and measurement. In this paper, the radiocarbon dating services of the last 20 years for research institutions, museums and environmental monitoring are reviewed and recent results from environmental and archaeological research programs are highlighted.