On the Precision and Accuracy of Radiocarbon Dating

Summary

Radiocarbon dating in the modern age is a precise experiment requiring an understanding of nuclear physics using accelerators It require measurements on the order of parts per trillion of carbon 14 nuclei in samples. Although most of the procedures of radiocarbon dating are standardized these days, the final results of the measurements have limitations on precision and accuracy that require careful verification before final acceptance. Recently, our group has carried out radiocarbon dating on samples of which the actual dates are approximately known. These samples were sent out for radiocarbon dating several times for a consistency check to confirm consistency of results. These experiments were performed over different accelerators in order to check for consistency. Based on t reports for each radiocarbon date, we have worked to reconstruct the data collected during the measurements and applied standard nuclear physics analysis to the data. The preliminary results from this study will be presented with suggestions on how to refine the precision for radiocarbon dating.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Issues in Building Radiocarbon Chronologies

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