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Tuesday, May 09, 2023

Introduction to Carbon-14 dating

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Carbon-14 dating, explained (Steve Koppes and Louise Lerner, UChicago News).
Radiocarbon dating, or carbon-14 dating, is a scientific method that can accurately determine the age of organic materials as old as approximately 60,000 years. First developed in the late 1940s at the University of Chicago by Willard Libby, the technique is based on the decay of the carbon-14 isotope. Radiocarbon dating has been used for historical studies and atmospheric science, and triggered archaeology’s “radiocarbon revolution.”

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This is a good, reader-friendly introduction to radiocarbon dating. Not surprisingly, the Dead Sea Scrolls are mentioned.

For PaleoJudaica posts on C-14 dating, start here (cf. here) and follow the links.

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