Wiggle matching is an important and powerful technique in radiocarbon dating that can be used to improve the precision of calendar age estimates. All radiocarbon determinations require calibration to provide calendar age estimates. This calibration is achieved by comparing the determinations against a calibration curve $\mu ( \cdot )$ to calculate the probability the sample arises from any particular calendar age t. Wiggle matching involves the calibration of a set of radiocarbon determinations taken from samples with known separations between their calendar ages. Since the calendar age separations between samples are known, all the calendar ages are known functions of one particular age, ${T_1}$ — commonly the most recent calendar age. Dating the sequence then reduces to considering $p({T_1} = {t_1}|data)$, the probability of the calendar age ${t_1}$ given the set of radiocarbon determinations. In previous work, a Bayesian approach has been used to derive a nice formula for this quantity under the assumption we have independent pointwise estimates of the calibration curve $\mu (t)$. In this paper, we derive a generalization of this formula showing how to incorporate covariance information from the calibration curve under an assumption of multivariate normality.

In this paper we evaluate the extent of freshwater reservoir effects (37 samples across 12 locations) and present new data from various archaeological sites in the Eurasian Steppe. Together with a summary of previous research on modern and archaeological samples, this provides the most up-to-date map of the freshwater reservoir offsets in the region. The data confirm previous observations highlighting that FREs are widespread but highly variable in the Eurasian Steppe in both modern and archaeological samples. Radiocarbon dates from organisms consuming aquatic sources, including humans, dogs, bears, aquatic birds and terrestrial herbivores (such as elk feeding on water plants), fish and aquatic mammals, as well as food crusts, could be misleading, but need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Karst environments preserve some of the best archives of past climate, vegetation, hydrology, anthropogenic impact, and landscape evolution providing that a reliable chronology can be established. Here we present an example of the system of the Plitvice Lakes (Dinaric karst, Croatia), which is characterized by intensive tufa and lake sediment formations. The radiocarbon dating method, combined with some other dating methods and various geochemical and isotope analyses, showed that the Plitvice Lakes system in the present form has existed for about 8000 years. Older tufa deposits were dated to warm interglacial periods. A long-term comprehensive multi-proxy study showed that all environmental compartments (atmosphere, various water bodies, soil, bedrock, DIC, terrestrial and aquatic biota, and of course various secondary carbonates) must be included in order to obtain trustworthy results.

Yedoma sediments with thick syngenetic ice wedges have been studied on the Yamal Peninsula, northwestern Siberia. The accumulation of yedoma strata occurred under alternating subaqueous-subaerial conditions, and three tiers of ice wedge were formed mainly on subaerial stages. The ice wedges and enclosing sediments were dated, revealing that the ice wedges were formed between 29 and 18 cal ka BP, while the enclosing sediments are generally older, possibly due to contamination with ancient material (especially in the central part of the yedoma). However, the termination of yedoma complex formation was dated not later than 13.5 cal ka BP. Stable oxygen-isotope data for the ice wedges indicate more severe winter climate conditions during 25–21 cal ka BP, when mean January air temperatures were at least 10°C lower that modern ones, favoring syngenetic ice wedge growth. Yedoma accumulation in the western part of northern Siberia does not support the existence here of an ice sheet during the LGM.

In this study we present new carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope data of human (n=13) and animal (n=40) bone and/or dentine collagen samples, alongside accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dates of human remains (n=16). The studied material was sampled from Lithuanian sites dating from the Late Mesolithic to the pre-Roman Iron Age. For the first time, we present δ13C and δ15N data from Lithuanian freshwater fish as well as AMS 14C, δ13C, and δ15N measurements of human remains from six disturbed graves at the Donkalnis cemetery and from two pre-Roman Iron Age graves. According to the new results, human diet derived protein from the Late Mesolithic to Subneolithic (ca. 7000–2900 cal BC) was primarily based on freshwater fish. While previous macrobotanical and stable isotope studies has suggested that C4 plants, i.e., millet, became more widely used from the Late Bronze Age (1100–500 cal BC), our data suggests that millet consumption may have decreased during the pre-Roman Iron Age (500–1 cal BC) in the southeastern Baltic.

This article outlines the research progress on radiocarbon (14C) dating of the Erlitou site. The Erlitou site, belonging to the Bronze Age, located in Yanshi, Henan province, China, was discovered by archaeologists in 1959 when they investigated the Xia people’s remains in the area where the Xia people lived according to the records of ancient documents. Since then, there has been a standing debate about whether the site belongs to the Xia or Shang dynasty. By the mid-1990s, several hundred discussion articles on the issue had been published, but the question was still unresolved. Therefore, evidence from the chronology has attracted a great amount of attention. The dating of the Erlitou site began in the 1970s, and since the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project began in the mid-1990s, by application of wiggle-matching on the basis of improving the dating accuracy, the date of the Erlitou site has gradually become clear, which provides a basis for the archaeological research on the Xia and Shang dynasties.

The dating of pollen grains is emerging as the method of choice for lacustrine climate archives that contain few datable macrofossils. Due to the need for high-purity pollen concentrates, new methods are constantly being developed to precisely separate pollen grains. Flow cytometry represents a promising alternative to conventional approaches, enabling the identification of pollen grains through fluorescence and rapid separation for radiocarbon analysis using accelerator mass spectrometry, which has so far been limited to sediments with a high proportion of conifer pollen. We present a revised method for processing large sediment samples, resulting in high-purity pollen and spore concentrates. Using this approach small- to medium-sized pollen and bryophyte spores were isolated from Lake Van sediment samples (Eastern Anatolia, Turkey) in sufficient purity for radiocarbon dating. However, a systematic age discrepancy between pollen and bryophyte spore concentrates was noted. By adapting the chemical and cytometric methods, pure pollen concentrates can be created for sediments with low organic content enabling age determination of climate archives with a low proportion of large pollen or low pollen concentration.

This note describes improvements of UV oxidation method that is used to measure carbon isotopes of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) at the National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility (NOSAMS). The procedural blank is reduced to 2.6 ± 0.6 μg C, with Fm of 0.42 ± 0.10 and δ13C of –28.43 ± 1.19‰. The throughput is improved from one sample per day to two samples per day.

Dates from the mammal fauna of Crystal Caverns, El Dorado County, California confirm that it is a Pleistocene deposit from the Last Glacial Maximum. Results indicate it is similar in age to other comparable California caves and has a high degree of time averaging.

The chronology of Machu Picchu was traditionally associated with the period attributed to the reign of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui. Within the scheme of the so-called “historical chronology”, proposed by John H. Rowe in 1945, the ascension to power of Pachacuti Inca took place around 1438 CE, and the construction of Machu Picchu began by 1450–1460 CE. Several radiocarbon-dated samples may help to understand the chronology of the construction of llaqta of Machu Picchu, Chachabamba, and Choqesuysuy. However, there is a lack of consensus between different radiocarbon-based Inca chronologies because of the lack of information of which calibration curves to use: Northern Hemisphere (NH), Southern Hemisphere (SH), or a mixed calibration curve? Thus, the main goal of the present investigation is to develop a new methodological approach to reconstruct a radiocarbon-based Incan chronology, an approach based on the determination, through modeling, of the proportion of NH and SH air parcels arriving at three relevant Inca settlements. We found air parcel contributions from the NH and SH for Machu Picchu (51% NH and 49% SH), Chamical (29% NH and 71% SH), and Tiquischullpa (41% NH and 59% SH). Thereby, our investigation brings three proportions to mix NH and SH 14C curves, based on an empirical method and supported by a high-resolution paleoclimatic tracer, for Inca radiocarbon dating studies. Our study emphasizes that great attention should be paid when applying radiocarbon calibration to radiocarbon measurements of samples originating from regions under the influence of the atmospheric circulation-boundary between hemispheres.

Lacustrine sediments are important archives for paleoclimate research, but there are evident carbon reservoir effects. Radiocarbon (14C) ages of lake sediments must be corrected for these effects before applying them to paleoclimate research. The authors review the lacustrine research from the last 20 years from different climatic regions in China, and systematically investigate the 14C age and correction methods used in the studies of 81 lakes. It is found that the climate-vegetation cover and distribution of carbonate around lakes are dominant factor controlling radiocarbon reservoir effects. In eastern China, the average 14C reservoir age is about 500 14C years and is associated with relatively dense vegetation. However, in northwest China and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, widespread carbonate bedrock may markedly increase the radiocarbon reservoir age which frequently is about 1500 and 2500 14C years. A piecewise linear regression model provides more reliable 14C reservoir age correction that accounts for sedimentary facies and sedimentation rate changes. It is worth mentioning that when analyzing 14C ages deviated greatly from time sequence, the age anomalies may indicate important effects relevant to the study of climate and environmental changes.

New radiocarbon (14C) dates we obtained in our radiocarbon laboratory equipped with a liquid scintillation counter using BGO (Bi4Ge3012) tubes. The electronic stability of the counter gave a background below 0.2 cpm. Our 14C dates agree well with the interpretations done for the samples. Most of the results in these analyses were obtained on shell samples, charcoal samples, and tree leaves. Calibration of the dates with the appropriate software (Calib 7.0.4) allows better interpretation of the results and their importance in the studied regions. In this paper, we present 14C results from archaeological and environmental sites in Senegal, Mali, and Togo and report the results in our second laboratory date list.

Estadio de Quillota (EDQ) is the largest known pre-Columbian cemetery site within the Aconcagua Valley of Central Chile. Despite its importance, existing chronological data for EDQ are limited and questions remain regarding the prehistory of the Valley, particularly around the adoption and intensification of maize agriculture, as well as the timing of Inka influence reaching the region. Seventeen new AMS radiocarbon dates presented here indicate two distinct phases of use at EDQ: An earlier phase (339–196 cal BC to cal AD 128–339), and a later phase (cal AD 1280–1387 to cal AD 1413–1458). Accompanying stable isotope (δ13C and δ15N) analyses of human bone collagen (n=22) demonstrate diachronic dietary changes corresponding to these phases, with a reliance on terrestrial C3 resources during the earlier period, followed by a heavy dependence on C4-based (maize) resources during the later use. Bayesian modeling of the dates from Late Period contexts suggests Inka influence arrived in Central Chile by ca. cal AD 1400, decades before the date cited in traditional chronologies, AD 1471. Inka expansion likely occurred here with an initial phase of interaction and exchange preceding a later phase of integration. This finding supports growing evidence that the traditional chronology of the Inka Empire requires reconsideration.

Determining the biocomponents in liquid fuels using radiocarbon radioisotope (14C) dating requires sample preparation adaptations to the conditions of the Gliwice Radiocarbon and Mass Spectrometry Laboratory. Liquid scintillation counting (LSC), and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) were investigated using six samples, including one 14C-free fuel and modern hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO). For AMS, samples were prepared using tin capsules for liquids for EA combustion and graphitization in an AGE system. For LSC, liquid fuels were prepared by mixing with purified preheated sand and a benzene synthesis line. Benzene resublimation was also tested. IRMS measurements were also conducted for benzene to account for isotopic fractionation. Sample background measurements using both methods showed good performances by both AMS and LSC without resublimation. Comparable results were also obtained for HVO.

Radiocarbon (14C) dating has, since its inception, become an integral part of disciplines such as geology and archaeology, underpinning many key findings made by researchers in the past seven decades. As 14C dating develops, the need arises to revisit older findings and legacy data which may well contain laboratory errors or post-analysis misinterpretations. In this paper we examine one such finding from Sweden, namely the 1958 14C dating of the great Jordfallet (“the Earthfall”) landslide, which was published in the very first volume of Radiocarbon in 1959. We further trace how the results of this 14C dating were misunderstood in a time prior to modern radiocarbon calibration, and the impact which this mistake has had throughout academic publications, state reports and local heritage literature through the course of over sixty years. Because of this flawed interpretation the credible date of 1249 AD given to the landslide by historical sources has been overlooked. Instead, a series of dates from the mid-12th and early 13th centuries have been attributed to the landslide event based on erroneous radiocarbon analysis, a mistake which has substantial implications for the understanding of both regional and international history in medieval Scandinavia.