• Measurement and interpretation of the isotopic composition of prehistoric bones, i.e. palaeodietary studies using carbon and nitrogen isotopes.
• Limnology, geochemistry and stable isotope analysis and interpretations of lacustrine environments and facies analysis.
• Radiocarbon: dating cremated or burned bones, 14C reservoir effects and modelling depth-to-age relationships in sediment cores using 14C, Bayesian modelling.

Teaching interests are isotope geochemistry, chronology (in particular radiocarbon reservoir effects and depth- to-age modelling), paleoclimate and groundwater geochemistry.

•  ”Isotope geochemistry”, graduate course, Department of Earth Sciences, Aarhus University, 5 ETCS. Organiser.
•   14C Workshop for BSc and MSc students working with sedimentary archives
•   Teaching the Groundwater geochemistry, undergraduate course, Department of Earth Sciences, Aarhus University (5 ETCS).

Current ongoing project:

Palaeo lake water temperatures estimated by applying oxygen isotopes from lacustrine sedimentary carbonates and cellulose.

This project aims at using the oxygen composition of in-lake produced carbonates and cellulose to calculate past water temperatures in lacustrine environments. In-lake produced carbonates reflect both past oxygen compositions of lake water and temperature, whereas in-lake produced cellulose reflects the oxygen composition of the lake water. Combined the two yields a temperature estimate defined solely by measurable parameters.

Collaborators

2010/In Press

Hede, M. U., P. Rasmussen, N. Noe-Nygaard, A. L. Clarke, R. D. Vinebrooke and J. Olsen (in press). "Multiproxy evidence for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem responses during the 8.2 ka cold event as recorded at Højby Sø, Denmark." Quaternary Research.

Kjeldsen, H., J. Olsen and J. Heinemeier (in press). "An integrated data-analysis and database system for AMS 14C." Nuclear Instrumentation and Method in Physics Research B.

Olsen, J., E. R. Gudmundsdóttir, S. Bjorck, B. V. Odgaard and J. Heinemeier (in press). "Revised age estimate of the Mjáuvötn tephra A on the Faroe Islands based on Bayesian modelling of 14C dates from two lake sequences." Journal of Quaternary Science.

Olsen, J., J. Heinemeier, H. Lübcke, F. Lüth and T. Terberger (in press). "Dietary habits and freshwater reservoir effects in bones from a Neolithic NE German cemetery." Radiocarbon.

Olsen, J., N. Noe-Nygaard and B. B. Wolfe (2010). "Mid to Late Holocene climate variability and anthropogenic impacts; multi-proxy evidence from lake Bliden, Denmark." Journal of Paleolimnology 43: 323-343.

Solignac, S., M. S. Seidenkrantz, C. A. Jessen, A. Kuijpers, A. Gunvald and J. Olsen (in press). "Late Holocene sea-surface conditions offshore Newfoundland based on dinoflagellate cysts." Holocene.

 2009

Olsen, J., P. Rasmussen and J. Heinemeier (2009). "Holocene temporal and spatial variation in the radiocarbon reservoir age of three Danish fjords." Boreas 38: 458-470.

Olsen, J. and J. Heinemeier (2009). "AMS dating of human bone from the Ostorf cemetery in the light of new information on dietary habits and freshwater reservoir effects." Berichte des RGK 88: 309-322.

Rasmussen, P. and J. Olsen (2009). "Soil erosion land-use change during the last six millennia recorded in lake sediments of Gudme Sø, Fyn, Denmark." Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin 17: 37-40.

2008

Olsen, J., J. Heinemeier, P. Bennike, C. Krause, K. M. Hornstrup and H. Thrane (2008). "Characterisation and Blind Testing of the Method for Radiocarbon Dating of Cremated Bone." Journal of Archaeological Science 35: 791-800.

Vinther, B. M., H. B. Clausen, S. J. Johnsen, S. O. Rasmussen, J. P. Steffensen, K. K. Andersen, S. L. Buchardt, D. Dahl-Jensen, I. K. Seierstad, A. M. Svensson, M. L. Siggaard-Andersen, J. Olsen and J. Heinemeier (2008). "Reply to comment by J. S. Denton and N. J. G. Pearce on "A synchronized dating of three Greenland ice cores throughout the holocene"." Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 113(D12).

2007

Fischer, A., J. Olsen, M. Richards, J. Heinemeier, Á. E. Sveinbjörnsdóttir and P. Bennike (2007). "Coast-inland mobility and diet in the Danish Mesolithic and Neolithic - evidence from stable isotope values of humans and dogs." Journal of Archaeological Science 34: 2125-2150.

Fischer, A., M. Richards, J. Olsen, D. Robinson, P. Bennike, L. Kubiak-Martens and J. Heinemeier (2007). "The composition of Mesolithic food -evidence from a submerged settlement on the Argus Bank, Denmark." Acta Archaeologica 78: 163-178.

Olsen, J., J. Heinemeier, K. G. Bahner, B. Graney and A. Plilips (2007). "Integrating Continuous Flow Mass Spectrometry with Automated CO2 collection for AMS." Radiocarbon 49: 233-244

2006

Olsen, J., I. Seierstad, B. Vinther, S. Johnsen and J. Heinemeier (2006). "Memory effect in deuterium analysis by continuous flow isotope ratio measurement." International Journal of Mass Spectrometry 254(1-2): 44-52.

Vinther, B. M., H. B. Clausen, S. J. Johnsen, S. O. Rasmussen, K. K. Andersen, S. L. Buchardt, I. K. Seierstad, M.-L. Siggaard-Andersen, J. P. Steffensen, A. M. Svenson, J. Olsen and J. Heinemeier (2006). "A synchronized dating of three Greenland ice cores throughout the Holocene." Journal of Geophysical Research.

2005

Seierstad, I. K., S. J. Johnsen, B. M. Vinther and J. Olsen (2005). "The duration of the Bølling-Allerød (Greenland Interstadial 1) period in the GRIP ice core." Annals of Glaciology 42: 337-344.