Note that you can use tooth enamel, which freezes its carbon at time of development (instead of death). https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20627335 https://n

Note that you can use tooth enamel, which freezes its carbon at time of development (instead of death). https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20627335 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20627335 That said, the error bars are simply too large to do anything reasonable for dates prior to 1955. The difference between 80 years and 110 years is 98.7% vs. 99.0% of the original C14 concentration... and while you may be able to get a very precise measurement of the remaining C14 you also need to very precisely know the baseline from that era to determine the percentage. Thus typical radiocarbon error bars are at least ±60 years.