Recognition of Bituminous Coal Contaminants in Radiocarbon Samples
- 1 April 1987
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in American Antiquity
- Vol. 52 (2), 318-330
- https://doi.org/10.2307/281783
Abstract
Bituminous coal, previously suspected as a contaminant in radiocarbon samples, has now been demonstrated to be a source of dating error in archaeological and geological samples. Standard laboratory procedures are inadequate to recognize or remove coal from samples, but techniques for identifying coal particles include paleo-botanical and reflectance analyses, and possibly accelerator dating.Keywords
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