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We can rule out carbon dating because oak grows for hundreds approaching thousands of years and so the carbon dates wouldn't narrow things down. When archeolog
by willvarfar 9y ago
We can rule out carbon dating because oak grows for hundreds approaching thousands of years and so the carbon dates wouldn't narrow things down. When archeologists send things to be carbon dated they try to find very short-lived woods or seeds.
The way you can date oak so precisely is by the comparative widths of the tree-rings. This is called dendrochronology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrochronology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrochronology
- dithering 9y agoCarbon dating measures the ratio of C14 to C12. This ratio doesn't start to change until they die, and are no longer renewing their carbon from the environment. Radiocarbon dating does provide an accurate date (although less accurate than dendro) for wooden items, and works with a wider range of samples.
- marcosdumay 9y agoThat's for short lived organisms. Trees do not renew most of their carbon during their lifetime, cellular walls are created and very rarely destroyed.