Reference Materials for Radiocarbon Dating
Research in the Statstics and Data Analytics group has developed the extensive set of radiocarbon (14C) reference materials that underpin radiocarbon dating (determining the age of an object) worldwide. Tens of thousands of 14C measurements are commissioned every year (collectively worth >£17.5 million/annum) in support of practitioners and organisations involved in cultural and environmental heritage activities that rely on, radiocarbon chronologies. Statistical research designed the experiments, and developed the statistical models that allowed the formal characterisation of these unique reference materials which are now recognised as international standards, underpinning laboratory accuracy and precision of the dates used in heritage and environmental investigations.
Researchers
Publications
- Learning from the wood samples in ICS, TIRI, FIRI, VIRI and SIRI. Radiocarbon, 61 (5), (2019).
- Why do we need 14C inter-comparisons?: The Glasgow 14C inter-comparison series, a reflection over 30 years. Quaternary Geochronology, 43, (2018).
- Should archaeologists care about 14C inter-comparisons? Why? A summary report on SIRI. Radiocarbon, (2017).
- The CRONUS-Earth intercomparison for cosmogenic isotope analysis. Quaternary Geochronology 26, (2015).
- The fifth international radiocarbon intercomparison (VIRI): an assessment of laboratory performance in stage 3. Radiocarbon 52, (2010).