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Least-Squares Fitting A Smooth Curve to Radiocarbon Calibration Data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

F. B. Knox  and
B. G. McFadgen
F. B. Knox
Affiliation:
900 Ohariu Valley Road, R.D., Johnsonville, New Zealand
B. G. McFadgen
Affiliation:
Conservation Sciences Centre, Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 10420, Wellington New Zealand
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Abstract

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We Fourier transformed and filtered calibration curve data to compensate for the averaging effect of radiocarbon-dating sets of adjacent tree rings. A Wiener Filter was also applied to minimize the effects of the counting errors of the dates on the resulting calibration curve and to produce a least-squares curve through the data. The method is illustrated using a short 14C-dated tree-ring sequence from New Zealand to produce a calibration curve at yearly intervals for New Zealand matai (Prumnopitys taxifolia). The resulting curve has a nominal standard error of 10 ± 3 yr, which is ca. half the average standard error of the original raw data.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , 1997 , pp. 193 - 204
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

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