Scientists hail revolution in radiocarbon dating

SCIENTISTS have improved the technique for assessing the age of historical objects, meaning radiocarbon dating is set to become more accurate than it has ever been.

Researchers at the universities of Sheffield, Belfast, Bristol, Glasgow, Oxford and St Andrews, and Historic England, together with international colleagues, used measurements from almost 15,000 samples from objects dating back as far as 60,000 years ago, as part of a seven-year project.

Using the measurements, they created new international radiocarbon calibration (Intcal) curves, which are fundamental across the scientific spectrum for accurately dating artefacts and making predictions about the future.

Radiocarbon dating is vital to fields such as archaeology and geoscience to date everything from the oldest modern human bones to historic climate patterns. It enables archaeologists to restore historic monuments or study the demise of the Neanderthals.

Geoscientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change rely upon the curves to find out what the climate was like in the past to better understand and prepare for future changes.

Prof Paula Reimer, from Queen’s University Belfast and head of the Intcal project, said: “Radiocarbon dating has revolutionised the field of archaeology and environmental science. As we improve the calibration curve, we learn more about our history. The

Intcal calibration curves are key to helping answer big questions about the environment and our place within it.”

The researchers have developed three curves dependent upon where the object to be dated is found.

The new curves, published in Radiocarbon, are Intcal20 for the Northern Hemisphere, SHCAL20 for the Southern Hemisphere, and Marine20 for the world’s oceans.