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Questions to think about:

What are the three isotopes of carbon? Which are stable and which are radioactive?
Why does radiocarbon never run out?
What is the half-life of carbon-14?
Willard Libby won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1960. What was his major contribution to science?
What is the difference between conventional and AMS dates?
What period of time can radiocarbon be used to date?
Why do radiocarbon dates need to be calibrated?
Who is Christopher Bronck Ramsey, and what have been his major contributions to radiocarbon dating?
According to Bronck Ramsey, what are the three major elements of radiocarbon dating?
Also according to him, what have been the five major milestones in radiocarbon dating?

Lecture slides handout:

Lecture PDF

Required Readings:

Malainey 2010 Chapter 8

Dillehay2015.PDF

Required Media:

Nature: Archaeology: Date with history

Presentation Options: TBA

Holen et al 2017 and Magnanietal2019.pdf

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Optional Readings:

Want to know more? See the articles and links below for more detailed information about topics covered in class lectures.

Hajdas et al. 2021, Nature Reviews Methods Primers: Radiocarbon Dating

Excellent simple explanation of radiocarbon dating by Nicole Keeney at UC Berkley: Science for Non-Scientists: Carbon Dating

Radiocarbon measurement without mass spectrometry: Liquid scintillation counting (LSC)

Labs that perform AMS radiocarbon dating according to international standards