Contribute: Radiocarbon dates

Radiocarbon dates

Current accepted conventions for citing radiocarbon dates are set out by A.R. Millard in Radiocarbon 56: 555–59 (DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2458/56.17455). For every date that is quoted in Antiquity, whether in a table or in the text of an article, we ask authors to provide the following details wherever possible:

  • the conventional radiocarbon age in 14C yr BP (e.g. ‘5439±34 BP’)
  • the laboratory code (e.g. ‘OxA-14953’)
  • the sample material dated (e.g. charcoal, seed, bone, identifying species wherever possible)

In the case of calibrated or modelled dates, authors are also asked to specify

  • the software used for calibration, including the version number (e.g. ‘OxCal v.4.2’) and ideally also the calibration curve (e.g. IntCal13) and any reservoir offset used
  • the calibrated date given as a range (or ranges) with an associated probability (68.2% or 95.4%) (e.g. ‘4347–4242 cal BC at 95.4%’ )

The preferred Antiquity convention is for calibration using the OxCal program (available online at https://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/oxcal.html) with calibrated dates quoted at 95.4% ranges.

Please include in your article any references relating to the software version and calibration curve used. Example:

A human metacarpal gave a date of 5439±34 BP (OxA-14953: 4347–4242 BC at 95.4%; date modelled in OxCal v.4.2, using IntCal13 calibration curve (Bronk Ramsey 2009; Reimer et al. 2013)).

In reference section/bibliography:

  • BRONK RAMSEY, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51: 337–60.
  • REIMER, P.J., E. BARD, A. BAYLISS, J.W. BECK, P.G. BLACKWELL, C. BRONK RAMSEY, C.E. BUCK, H. CHENG, R.L. EDWARDS, M. FRIEDRICH, P.M. GROOTES, T.P. GUILDERSON, H. HAFLIDASON, I. HAJDAS, C. HATTÉ, T.J. HEATON, D.L. HOFFMANN, A.G. HOGG, K.A. HUGHEN, K.F. KAISER, B. KROMER, S.W. MANNING, M. NIU, R.W. REIMER, D.A. RICHARDS, E.M. SCOTT, J.R. SOUTHON, R.A. STAFF, C.S.M. TURNEY & J. VAN DER PLICHT. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55: 1869–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16947

References

X