LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Radiocarbon Dating: Materials
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The purpose of this first article is to discuss problems with radiocarbon and tree-ring dating (or dendrochronology), which are the two most common direct dating techniques in archaeology. Problems with relative dating by interpretation of material culture—arrowheads, pottery, tools—will be the subject of the next article.
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Prior to the availability of radiocarbon dates (and when there is no material suitable for a radiocarbon date) scientists used a system of relative dating. Relative dating establishes the sequence of physical or cultural events in time. Knowing which events came before or after others allows scientists to analyze the relationships between the events.
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The radiocarbon dating provided the age of the material analyzed. Based on the characterization of the material examined in Jehoash Tablet and James Ossuary, the 14C content would not have supplied a proof of authenticity.
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The interdisciplinary team has expertise in Mesoamerican archaeology, artifact and materials characterization, studies of ancient technology, and radiocarbon dating. Accessible facilities are ideal for this work and include the Archaeological Research Institute and Goldwater Center for Solid State Science at Arizona State University and the NSF-Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory and the Department of Anthropology Archaeometry Laboratories at the University of Arizona.
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Though archaeologists could not directly use radiocarbon dating on objects such as coins, they could often find organic material (like charcoal from a fire) on the same stratum at a site as the object. In this way the age of the coin, or any other non-organic item, might be inferred from the age of the charcoal.
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The earliest experiments in radiocarbon dating were done on ancient material from Egypt. Willard F. Libby’s team obtained acacia wood from the 3rd Dynasty Step Pyramid of Djoser to test a hypothesis they had developed.
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