Radiocarbon Dating

An absolute dating technique that estimates the calendar age of formerly living organic material by measuring the residual concentration of the radioactive isotope carbon-14 and applying a decay model and calibration to convert measured activity or isotope ratio into calendar years before present.

An absolute dating method that estimates the calendar age of formerly living organic material by measuring the remaining concentration of the radioactive isotope carbon-14 (14C) produced in the biosphere and applying its known decay rate; results require calibration to convert radiocarbon ages into calendar dates and are reported with an uncertainty range.