Fought over carbon dating vs tree rings for a dig site in Arizona

I went with dendrochronology on a pueblo site because the lab had a 3 month backlog for radiocarbon. Now I'm wondering if I missed bigger dates on older layers - anyone pick one method and regret it later?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_riley16d ago

Read a paper awhile back that mentioned how tree rings can actually pick up volcanic events that mess with carbon dating too. There's a known offset around 1300s CE where carbon dates ran 200 years off in some Arizona sites due to atmospheric changes. Dendro is definitely the way to go for anything under 2000 years if you've got the material. You probably saved yourself a headache dealing with backlog anyway.

scott.alex16d ago

Wait, wasn't that the 14th century, not the 1300s CE?

-1

rowanw9116d ago

Wait, that can't be right. Are you serious about the carbon dating being off by 200 years in Arizona? That's a huge swing. I always figured those carbon dating results were pretty solid for stuff that old, but if tree rings can spot a volcanic hiccup that throws everything off by centuries, that's wild. Makes me wonder how many other dates in the southwest are actually way older or newer than we think.