Radiocarbon Distance between Calendar Dates

Abstract

The calibration procedure, and especially the nonlinear shape of the calibration curve, makes analyzing a possible dating result a far from straightforward process. This is especially so if the goal is to distinguish between two relatively close events. Proposed herein is a calculator, or alternatively a graph, which enables reading of the difference between two radiocarbon ages corresponding to their expected calendar ages. The result may surprise the less experienced ¹⁴C users. Such a calculation also indicates the time periods with high or low potential for application of the wiggle-matching method.

DOI: 10.2458/56.16946