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5 unusual facts about Radiocarbon dating


Boylston Street Fishweir

Radiocarbon dating, refined pollen sample analysis, and accurate surveys allowed the fish weir stakes to be understood to straddle many different stratigraphic layers.

Kiamichi River

Radiocarbon dating of charred hickory and pecan hulls found at the site indicate a date of approximately 1,200 B.C. Also found were stumps of cypress trees... a tree which has not grown in that portion of the county in perhaps hundreds of years.

Maiden Castle, Cheshire

Radiocarbon dating indicates that the ramparts defending Maiden Castle were built in around 600 BC.

Mount E

Radiocarbon dating and tephrochronology indicate five other eruptions predating the historical records in the approximate years 1350, 550 BC, 1050 BC, 3900 BC ±100 years, 7050 BC.

The Kadakkarapally Boat

Radiocarbon dating done in the United States yielded a date of AD 1020 to 1270, corroborating the C-14 date of AD 920 to 1160 derived by an Indian laboratory.


1949 in archaeology

Radiocarbon dating technique discovered by Willard Libby and his colleagues in 1949 during his tenure as a professor at the University of Chicago.

2004 in archaeology

Albert Goodyear of the University of South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology announces that radiocarbon dating at the Topper Site dated to approximately 50,000 years ago, or approximately 37,000 years before the Clovis culture.

Hilde Levi

While there, she learned from Willard Libby at the University of Chicago about about his recently discovered technique of radiocarbon dating.

History of archaeology

Undoubtedly the major technological development in 20th century archaeology was the introduction of radiocarbon dating, based on a theory first developed by American scientist Willard Libby in 1949.

Luther Cressman

His most significant discovery came in 1938, when he discovered a pair of perfectly preserved shredded sagebrush bark sandals at Fort Rock in Oregon that were radiocarbon dated from 10,500 to 9,300 years old, making them the oldest footwear ever discovered.

Nepean River

Near Penrith, since 1971 numerous Aboriginal stone tools were found in Cranebrook Terraces gravel sediments deposited by the Nepean River 40,000 to 50,000 years ago, according to repeated, revised and corroborated radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dating.

Nick McCave

Nick McCave's research looks at perturbations in the deep oceans, using evidence from micro-fossils combined with carbon dating, to obtain information on pre-historical climate change.

Prunus prostrata

of pollen and other microfossils from a core sample taken in an intermontane valley of the Segura mountains in southern Spain finds P. prostrata in a "Prunus type" located in two radiocarbon-dated zones from about 2630 BP to about 1550 BP and again from about 790 BP to present.

Settlement of the Americas

At the Topper archaeological site (located along the banks of the Savannah River near Allendale, South Carolina) investigated by University of South Carolina archaeologist Dr. Albert Goodyear, charcoal material recovered in association with purported human artifacts returned radiocarbon dates of up to 50,000 years before the present (BP).

Stout-legged Wren

Radiocarbon dates for the assemblages with which it is associated range from 25,000 BP to 1,000 BP.

Timeline of archaeology, 2000s

Albert Goodyear of the University of South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology announces that radiocarbon dating at the Topper Site dated to approximately 50,000 years ago, or approximately 37,000 years before the Clovis culture

Yorkshire Wolds

Recently excavated long barrows at Fordon on Willerby Wold and at Kilham have been carbon dated to around 3700 B.C. A well-known round barrow of this period is the monumental Duggleby Howe, at the western end of the Great Wolds Valley, partially excavated in 1890 by J.R. Mortimer.


see also

Cuicuilco

According to recently adjusted chronology based on radiocarbon dating (cf. Rattray, 1991); predominant types are temporarily located in the epiclassical period, 650-950 CE, Coyotlatelco tradition (cf. Rattray, 1966), and are contemporaneous with the Tula Chico occupation (cf. Cobean, 1990), as well as other important settlements in the Valley of Mexico, as Cerro de la Estrella and Azcapotzalco (altepetl).

Harold Goodwin

Harry Godwin (1901–1985), English botanist and ecologist long associated with Clare College, Cambridge; professor of botany; expert in plant physiology; from 1948, supervised pioneering work on radiocarbon dating

Settlement of the Americas

In 2004, Albert Goodyear of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology announced radiocarbon dating of a bit of charcoal found in the Topper Site that preceded Clovis culture, near Allendale County, South Carolina.