(super 14) C dating ancient Japanese documents.

Abstract

We measured radiocarbon ages of 11 pieces of ancient Japanese documents by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The purpose of this study is to compare the relationship between the calibrated (super 14) C age and the historical age of Japanese paper samples. Calibrated ages of nine pieces agree with their historical ages, indicating that Japanese ancient documents can be used for (super 14) C dating in the recent historic period. On the other hand, the (super 14) C age of paper that was used for reinforcement of a sutra is ca. 300 yr older than the historical age of the sutra. This shows that the sutra was repaired with old paper.