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A Simplified Approach to Calibrating 14C Dates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

A. S. Talma  and
J. C. Vogel
A. S. Talma
Affiliation:
Quaternary Dating Research Unit, CSIR, P. O. Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
J. C. Vogel
Affiliation:
Quaternary Dating Research Unit, CSIR, P. O. Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
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Abstract

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We propose a simplified approach to the calibration of radiocarbon dates. We use splines through the tree-ring data as calibration curves, thereby eliminating a large part of the statistical scatter of the actual data points. To express the age range, we transform the ± 1 σ and ± 2 σ values of the BP age to calendar dates and interpret them as the 68% and 95% confidence intervals. This approach bypasses the conceptual problems of the transfer of individual probability values from the radiocarbon to the calendar age. We have adapted software to make this calibration possible.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , 1993 , pp. 317 - 322
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

References

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