Carbon dating in archaeology

Radiocarbon dating of archaeological textiles at different states of preservation

Heritage Science volume 11 , Article number: 44 Cite this article. Metrics details. Radiocarbon dating provides objective age estimates of archaeological finds, based on measurements of the carbon isotope present in the organic matter against an internationally used reference standard. Six case studies of archaeological textiles dated using the carbon method are presented here. Two carbonised textile finds, two which were mineralised one treated with adhesives in the past , and a final two which come from inhumation burials similar to the textile previously treated with adhesives. This paper includes a discussion and review of the dating method, focusing on sample selection, sample preparation, and by evaluating the efficiency of the technique on textile finds at various states of preservation. This study shows that efficiency of the technique is highly dependable on the amount of carbon present in the finds, which does not seem to be affected by carbonisation, but is greatly affected by mineralisation and the incorporation of foreign organic matter, like synthetic consolidants. The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss how 14 C results might be affected by the condition of the textiles, when that condition has disturbed the C content of the material analysed or when provenance information does not exist to corroborate 14 C results. The C of excavated textiles might also be affected at some point after excavation and during conservation treatment as their condition is often so poor it requires the use of synthetic adhesives or consolidants to retain their structure [ 1 ]. Radiocarbon dating, also referred to as carbon dating or carbon dating 14 C , is a method that can calculate the age of materials of plant or animal origin, by measuring the amount of the radioactive isotope of carbon C , the 14 C isotope, present in the material.

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Radiocarbon dating also referred to as carbon dating or carbon dating is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon , a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was developed in the late s at the University of Chicago by Willard Libby. It is based on the fact that radiocarbon 14 C is constantly being created in the Earth's atmosphere by the interaction of cosmic rays with atmospheric nitrogen.

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You probably have seen or read news stories about fascinating ancient artifacts. An archaeologist finds a child mummy high in the Andes and says the child lived more than 2, years ago. How do scientists know how old an object or human remains are? What methods do they use and how do these methods work?

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