Radiocarbon Dating of Charcoals or Woods by Carbon-14 Dating Method (CAT#: STEM-EA-0133-ZJF)

Introduction

The most common and preferred materials for radiocarbon dating with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) are charcoal and wood. Due to the time difference at which one of its parts stopped exchanging carbon with the environment, results may require additional data and interpretation to compensate for the "old wood effect," in which samples taken from different parts of the specimen can give misleading or confusing results.
Radiocarbon dating can be performed on a variety of samples, including shells, corals, bones, and teeth, charcoal, wood, sediments, and groundwater. Each type of material may require a different sample for analysis, so it is important to handle packaging carefully to avoid contamination. By measuring the radiocarbon content of organic material, only organic material can be dated. A living organism exchanges carbon with its environment until it dies, at which point the carbon exchange ceases and the C-14 (a radioactive isotope) begins to decay. In the laboratory, the amount of C-14 in the sample can be used to estimate the age of organic material, organisms, plants, or animals. Before analysis, additional steps may be required, such as decontamination or converting the sample into a form that is more suitable for measurement.