Glossary:Radiocarbon dating

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Radiocarbon dating
A method of dating archaeological sites by measuring the decay of carbon 14 in buried plants such as wood and charcoal, or animal remains. The American chemist William Libby published the first radiocarbon dates in 1949 by estimating that it took 5568 years for half the carbon 14 in a sample to decay. When living things die their uptake of carbon 14, passed on from the atmosphere during life, ceases. The age of the plant or animal sample can be calculated by measuring the amount of radiocarbon left in a sample.

Source
Renfrew, C. & P. Bahn (1993) Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice Thames and Hudson Ltd, London

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