Step change in our ability to unlock secrets of the past with radiocarbon dates

Radiocarbon dating, a technique widely used in archaeology and geoscience, is set to become more accurate than ever after an international team of scientists have shared much-anticipated new calibration curves based on data from ancient trees, lake and ocean sediments, cave deposits and more. A team of researchers at the Universities of Belfast, Sheffield, Bristol, Glasgow, Oxford, St. Andrews and Historic England, among many other international institutions, used measurements from almost 15,000 samples from objects dating back as far as 60,000 years ago as part of a seven-year project, called IntCal, to produce new international radiocarbon calibration curves, which have been published in the journal Radiocarbon . Professor Paula Reimer, from Queen's University Belfast and head of the IntCal project, said: "Radiocarbon dating has revolutionised the field of archaeology and environmental science. As we improve the calibration curve, we learn more about our history. The IntCal calibration curves are key to helping answer big questions about the environment and our place within it." Archaeologists can use that knowledge to restore historic monuments or study the demise of the Neanderthals, while geoscientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) rely upon the curves to find out about what the climate was like in the past to better understand and prepare for future changes. The curves are based on a variety of archives that store past radiocarbon but can also be dated using other methods.