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Calibration Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

E M Scott  and
P J Reimer
E M Scott
Affiliation:
Department of Statistics, University of Glasgow, University Gardens, Glasgow, G12 8QW, United Kingdom. Email: [email protected]
P J Reimer
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University Belfast, Elmwood Avenue, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom. Email: [email protected]
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There are 2 fundamental assumptions in radiocarbon dating, which were known early in the method development to be approximations, and which lead directly to the need to calibrate 14C dates:

  1. 1. The rate of formation of 14C in the upper atmosphere has been constant over the entire applied 14C dating timescale (approximately the last 65,000 yr).

  2. 2. The 14C activity of the atmosphere has been in equilibrium with the biosphere and ocean over the applied timescale.

Type
Calibration
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , 2009 , pp. 283 - 285
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

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