Carbon-14 Course

Lesson 1 • Historical Discovery of Radiocarbon Dating

Traces Libby's original work and early validation against known-age samples. Contextualises the scientific milestones that shaped modern practice.

Lesson 2 • Carbon Reservoirs and Global Cycling

Maps carbon exchange amongst atmosphere, oceans, biosphere, and lithosphere. Establishes why reservoir effects complicate age interpretation.

Lesson 3 • Atomic Structure and Isotope Basics

Covers protons, neutrons, and electron configuration as they define isotopes. Grounds all subsequent radiocarbon concepts in atomic theory.

Lesson 4 • Formation of Carbon-14 in Nature

Explains cosmic-ray bombardment of nitrogen-14 in the upper atmosphere. Links natural production to the global carbon cycle.

Lesson 1 • Contamination Identification and Removal

Identifies exogenous carbon sources including rootlets, humic acids, and conservation treatments. Teaches visual and chemical screening before pretreatment.

Lesson 2 • Field Sampling Protocols

Establishes sterile collection, contextual documentation, and chain-of-custody procedures. Prevents post-depositional contamination before laboratory intake.

Lesson 3 • Material Types Suitable for Dating

Surveys organic and inorganic materials that retain original carbon. Guides selection decisions based on preservation potential and dating range.

Lesson 4 • Sample Size and Quantity Requirements

Quantifies minimum mass requirements for AMS and beta-counting methods. Helps practitioners plan collection to avoid insufficient material.

Lesson 1 • Conventional Beta-Counting Methods

Covers gas proportional counting and liquid scintillation counting as legacy techniques. Connects detector physics to practical sensitivity and throughput limits.

Lesson 2 • Sample Preparation for Measurement

Details chemical pretreatment, graphitisation, and target pressing for AMS. Demonstrates how preparation quality directly controls measurement accuracy.

Lesson 3 • Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Principles

Explains ion source, tandem accelerator, and detector array in AMS systems. Establishes why AMS achieves milligram-scale sample analysis.

Lesson 4 • Quality Assurance in the Laboratory

Covers contamination control, duplicate analysis, and inter-laboratory comparison programmes. Ensures students can implement and audit a robust QA framework.

Lesson 1 • Plateau Regions and Ambiguous Dates

Identifies flat sections of the calibration curve that produce multimodal probability distributions. Teaches strategies to resolve or communicate ambiguity.

Lesson 2 • Why Calibration Is Necessary

Explains atmospheric C-14 variation driven by solar activity and geomagnetic changes. Demonstrates the divergence between radiocarbon years and calendar years.

Lesson 3 • Construction of Calibration Curves

Details how dendrochronology, speleothems, and marine sediments build the calibration dataset. Connects curve construction methods to their uncertainty ranges.

Lesson 4 • Marine and Hemispheric Corrections

Applies marine reservoir correction and Southern Hemisphere offset to appropriate samples. Ensures geographically correct calibration for non-atmospheric samples.

Lesson 1 • Bayesian Modelling of Chronologies

Integrates prior stratigraphic information with radiocarbon likelihoods using Bayesian methods. Produces posterior age estimates with reduced uncertainty.

Lesson 2 • Outlier Detection and Treatment

Identifies anomalous dates caused by contamination, old-wood effect, or intrusion. Applies outlier models within Bayesian frameworks to down-weight suspect dates.

Lesson 3 • Chi-Square Test for Date Consistency

Uses the chi-square statistic to test whether multiple dates from one context are statistically consistent. Guides decisions on pooling or rejecting dates.

Lesson 4 • Measurement Uncertainty and Error Propagation

Defines counting statistics, systematic errors, and combined uncertainty in radiocarbon measurements. Builds the quantitative foundation for all result interpretation.

Lesson 1 • Dietary Reservoir Effects in Human Remains

Quantifies how marine or freshwater food consumption shifts apparent age in human bone. Integrates stable isotope data to model dietary carbon sources.

Lesson 2 • Freshwater and Lacustrine Reservoir Effects

Identifies hardwater effect and catchment geology as sources of freshwater reservoir bias. Provides methods to estimate and subtract lacustrine offsets.

Lesson 3 • Compound-Specific Radiocarbon Analysis

Introduces isolation of specific organic compounds for targeted dating of individual carbon pools. Reduces reservoir ambiguity in complex sediment and food matrices.

Lesson 4 • Volcanic and Geothermal Carbon Inputs

Addresses dead carbon from volcanic CO2 degassing near geothermal areas. Teaches site-specific assessment and correction for affected samples.

Lesson 1 • Forensic and Recent-Age Applications

Exploits the bomb-pulse curve to date materials produced after 1950 CE. Covers forensic identification, food fraud detection, and wildlife trafficking cases.

Lesson 2 • Building Archaeological Site Chronologies

Integrates radiocarbon dates with stratigraphy and artefact typology to construct site timelines. Demonstrates multi-date Bayesian modelling for occupation phases.

Lesson 3 • Human Migration and Cultural Transitions

Applies high-precision dating to trace population movements and technological change. Evaluates the old-wood problem and short-lived sample strategies.

Lesson 4 • Paleoclimate and Environmental Reconstruction

Uses radiocarbon-dated proxies to reconstruct past climate and vegetation change. Links chronological precision to the resolution of palaeoenvironmental records.

Lesson 1 • Radiocarbon in Climate and Carbon Cycle Modelling

Uses radiocarbon as a tracer to constrain ocean circulation rates and carbon cycle dynamics. Connects measurement data to Earth system model validation.

Lesson 2 • Ethical and Regulatory Considerations

Addresses sample ownership, indigenous heritage rights, and export regulations for datable materials. Prepares practitioners to navigate ethical review and compliance requirements.

Lesson 3 • Future Calibration Curve Improvements

Reviews ongoing efforts to extend and refine calibration curves beyond current limits. Addresses gaps in the Southern Hemisphere and marine records.

Lesson 4 • Wiggle-Matching for High-Precision Dating

Matches a series of internally spaced radiocarbon dates to calibration curve features. Achieves decadal precision for tree-ring and laminated sediment sequences.