Radiocarbon calibration by means of varves versus ¹⁴C ages of terrestrial macrofossils from Lake Gościa̧ż and Lake Perespilno, Poland

This paper presents radiocarbon dates of terrestrial macrofossils from Lakes Gościa̧ż and Perespilno, Poland. These data agree very well with most of the German pine calibration curve. In the Late Glacial, they generally agree with the data from Lake Suigetsu, Japan, and indicate constant or even increasing ¹⁴C age between 12.9 and 12.7 ka BP, rapid decline of ¹⁴C age around 12.6 ka BP, and a long plateau 10,400 ¹⁴C BP around 12 ka BP. Correlation with corals and data from the Cariaco basin seems to support the concept of site-speficic, constant values of reservoir correction, in contradiction to those introduced in the INTCAL98 calibration. Around the Allerød/Younger Dryas boundary our data strongly disagree with those from the Cariaco basin, which reflects large discrepancy between calendar chronologies at that period. The older sequence from Lake Perespilno indicates two periods of rapid decline in ¹⁴C age, around 14.2 and 13.9 ka BP.