Much of the information presented in this section is based upon the Stuiver and Polach (1977) paper "Discussion: Reporting of C14 data". A copy of this paper may be found in the Radiocarbon Home Page
The radiocarbon age of a sample is obtained by measurement of the residual radioactivity. This is calculated through careful measurement of the residual activity (per gram C) remaining in a sample whose age is Unknown, compared with the activity present in Modern and Background samples. You can get an idea of the relationship between C14 and age at the Carbon Dating calculator page.
The Oxalic acid standard was made from a crop of 1955 sugar beet. There were 1000 lbs made. The isotopic ratio of HOx I is -19.3 per mille with respect to (wrt) the PBD standard belemnite (Mann, 1983). The Oxalic acid standard which was developed is no longer commercially available. Another standard, Oxalic Acid II was prepared when stocks of HOx 1 began to dwindle. The Oxalic acid II standard (HOx 2; N.I.S.T designation SRM 4990 C) was made from a crop of 1977 French beet molasses. In the early 1980's, a group of 12 laboratories measured the ratios of the two standards. The ratio of the activity of Oxalic acid II to 1 is 1.2933�0.001 (the weighted mean) (Mann, 1983). The isotopic ratio of HOx II is -17.8 per mille. There are other secondary radiocarbon standards, the most common is ANU (Australian National University) sucrose. The ratio of the activity of sucrose with 0.95 Ox was first measured by Polach at 1.5007�0.0052 (Polach, 1976b:122). Later inter-laboratory measurements put the ratio at 1.5081 (Currie and Polach, 1980).
According to Stuiver and Polach (1977), all laboratories should report their results either directly related to NBS Oxalic acid or indirectly using a sub-standard which is related to it.
In an earlier section we mentioned that the limit of the technique is about 55-60 000 years. Obviously, the limit of the method differs between laboratories dependent upon the extent to which background levels of radioactivity can be reduced. Amongst accelerator laboratories there has been mooted the theoretical possibility of extended range dating to 75 000 yr +, at present this seems difficult to attain because of the problems in accurately differentiating between ions that mimic the mass and charge characteristics of the C14 atom. Beukens (1994) for instance has stated that this means the limit of the range for his Isotrace laboratory is 60 000 yr which is very similar to the conventional range.
The Conventional Radiocarbon Age BP is calculated using the radiocarbon decay equation:
Where -8033 represents the mean lifetime of 14C (Stuiver and Polach, 1977). Aon is the activity in counts per minute of the modern standard, Asn is the equivalent cpm for the sample. 'ln' represents the natural logarithm.
A CRA embraces the following recommended conventions:
Three further terms are sometimes given with reported radiocarbon dates. d14C, D14C and deltaC13.
All are expressed in per mille notation rather than per cent notation (%).
d14C represents the per mille depletion in sample carbon 14 prior to isotopic fractionation correction and is measured by:
D14C represents the 'normalized' value of d14C. 'Normalized' means that the activity is scaled in relation to fractionation of the sample, or its deltaC13 value. All D14C values are normalized to the base value of -25.0 per mille with respect to the standard carbonate (VPDB). D14C is calculated using:
This value can then be used to calculate the CRA using the equation given above.
or,
Asn/Aon(1/8267(y-1950)) x 100 percent
Where Aabs is the absolute international standard activity, 1/8267 is the lifetime based on the new half life (5730 yr), Y = the year of measurement of the appropriate standard. This is an expression of the ratio of the net modern activity against the residual normalised activity of the sample, expressed as a percentage and it represents the proportion of radiocarbon atoms in the sample compared to that present in the year 1950 AD. Thus, %Modern becomes a useful term in describing radiocarbon measurements for the past 45 years when, due to the influx of artificial radiocarbon into the atmosphere as a result of nuclear bomb testing the 'age' calculation becomes a 'future' calculation.
If the sample approaches D14C = -1000 per mille within 2 standard deviations, it is considered to be indistinguishable from the laboratory background, ie, not able to be separated with confidence from the laboratory countrates which result from a sample which contains no radionuclide. In this instance, a minimum age is calculated. An example of a minimum age is >55, 000 yr or >50, 000 yr (Gupta and Polach, 1985).
Should the activity of the sample be indistinguishable from the background activity at 1 standard deviation, it is released as background.
Samples whose age falls between modern and background and are given finite ages.Standard errors released with each radiocarbon assay (see below) are usually rounded by convention (Stuiver and Polach, 1977). Again, not all laboratories subscibe to these conventions, some do not round up ages.
Age (yr) | Radiocarbon date rounded to | Error (� value) |
---|---|---|
0 - 1000 | nearest 10 | nearest 5 up |
1000 - 10000 | nearest 10 | nearest 10 up |
10000 - 25000 | nearest 50 | nearest 10 up |
>25000 | nearest 100 | nearest 50 up |
According to Stuiver and Pearson (1992), the majority of laboratories report the measured counting statistics as a laboratory standard error. This results in considerable under-reporting (Scott, Long and Kra, 1990:253-393; Stuiver and Pearson, 1992:20) because a standard error based upon counting statistics alone does not include additional errors which may be incurred, for example, during sample preparation. Pearson (1979:21) has suggested:
"Those involved in radiocarbon dating should be alert to the various possible sources of error and recognize that the precision quoted on a date may be quite unrealistic if the error sources have not been investigated in detail".Gordon Pearson. 1979. "Precise 14C Measurement by LS Counting". Radiocarbon 21(1):1-22.
To present a date with a realistic standard error, Pearson (1980; 1983) and Pearson et al. (1986:929) have identified the factors which contributed significantly to errors in beta counting using Liquid Scintillation spectrometry. Ostensibly, this research was a precursor to high precision dating of Irish bog oak samples for the calibration of the radiocarbon timescale (Pearson, 1980, 1983; Pearson and Stuiver, 1993). He investigated each principal factor contributing to errors and considered their effect on overall laboratory precision and concluded that a standard error of �25 radiocarbon years was possible in the Belfast laboratory. Standard errors quoted by the Belfast laboratory, then, are based upon this analysis.
Many laboratories today calculate a laboratory error multiplier to account for all errors account for routine variation in reproducibility in radiocarbon dating. Stuiver (Stuiver and Pearson, 1993), for instance, has reported that the standard errors reported in the University of Washington laboratory results are based a lab multiplier. According to Stuiver and Pearson (1993), the error multiplier (or 'K') is a measure of the laboratory reproducibility, incorporating the errors resulting from the preparation of gas, its loading, memory effects and counting statistics. 'K' is defined as the actual standard error divided by the quoted standard error and is usually generated through repeat dating of a standard of known age or consensus age.
In addition, inter-laboratory comparison exercises have been undertaken to evaluate laboratory variation and identify causes for it. We hope to include some information regarding these important programmes run principally by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Glasgow University Department of Statistics.
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