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Radiocarbon Distance Between Calendar Dates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Adam Walanus*
Affiliation:
AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, al. A. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
Dorota Nalepka
Affiliation:
W. Szafer Institute of Botany PAS, Lubicz 46, 31–512 Kraków, Poland
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

Abstract

The calibration procedure, and especially the nonlinear shape of the calibration curve, makes analyzing a possible dating result a far from straightforward process. This is especially so if the goal is to distinguish between two relatively close events. Proposed herein is a calculator, or alternatively a graph, which enables reading of the difference between two radiocarbon ages corresponding to their expected calendar ages. The result may surprise the less experienced 14C users. Such a calculation also indicates the time periods with high or low potential for application of the wiggle-matching method.

Type
Statistics and Modeling
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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