Radiocarbon dating at the University of Washington I.

Abstract

Beginning in 1955 a C (super 14) dating apparatus was constructed at this University for the purpose of measuring the specific activity of tree rings selected from a specimen of Sequoia wood having 3000 growth rings. The original purpose was to obtain a measure of the half life of C (super 14) by essentially the inverse of C (super 14) dating. For various reasons the project was not completed, and for about a year the apparatus stood idle for lack of financial support. This latter deficiency has now been rectified, at least temporarily, and research with the apparatus has been resumed. Fabrication of a second, 1 L counter is nearing completion. In the meantime, others have investigated tree rings and other materials of known age and found interesting fluctuations in the C (super 14) specific activity in past times. Our work on Sequoia tree rings has been resumed and results to date are reported in Part 3 of this paper. In addition to the investigation of tree rings samples were submitted by anthropologists, geologists, glaciologists, etc. These dates are reported in Part 2 of this paper. Part 4 consists of a short note concerning the mechanism of oxidation of radiogenic C (sub 14) in the atmosphere. The 19 geologic samples dated are from Washington (Puget Sound series), California, Oregon, and Alaska (Glacier Bay series). The 6 archaeologic samples dated are from Tennessee and Washington.