Pseudo-Archaeology · The Archaeology Podcast Network

Is Carbon 14 Dating Fake? - Ep 180

·38 min·2 clips

Carbon-14 is described as a ticking clock that starts when a living thing dies.

1. Pseudo-Archaeology episode 180 asks whether carbon-14 dating is fake. 2. Host Dr. Andrew Kinkella frames the topic as a question he gets from students, the general public, and evolution deniers. 3. The episode argues that carbon-14 dating works, while also asking where its limits and complications actually are. 4. Kinkella contrasts carbon-14 with obsidian hydration, which he calls a weaker method for dating chipped volcanic glass. 5. He says carbon-14 requires something that was once alive, so rocks cannot be dated that way. 6. His own work includes bone, ancient seeds, charcoal, and shell prepared for carbon-14 analysis. 7. He says archaeology projects often combine carbon-14 with tree-ring dating and artifact style comparisons. 8. He describes field reports that end with a request for more dating. 9. He says he often pays for carbon-14 dates so a project has a defensible chronology. 10. He says labs send back an Excel spreadsheet with an age estimate after about four to six weeks. 11. He explains carbon-14 as a decay process with a 5,730-year half-life. 12. He says carbon-14 is useful for roughly 50,000 to 60,000 years, but not for dinosaur-age material. 13. He says very recent material from the last 250 years is also a poor fit because of the atomic age. 14. He explains that AMS dating can use a much smaller sample than older radiocarbon methods. 15. He gives a specific good result of 762 years old plus or minus 20. 16. He says calibration-curve wiggles and marine Delta R corrections can make some dates broader or offset. 17. He says contamination is often blamed, but he has seen very few cases that were actually contaminated. 18. He says real scientists argue about details like Delta R, while creationist and pseudo-archaeology claims often start from a fixed story. 19. People interested in archaeology methods, dating ranges, and lab workflow would likely enjoy this episode. 20. Listeners looking for a compact defense of carbon-14 against creationist arguments might skip it.

As heard by us

A direct, practical answer to a question carbon-14 dating keeps dragging back into view.

The episode takes up the common claim that carbon-14 dating is fake and answers it plainly. Dr. Andrew Kinkella walks through how the method works, why it gets refined, and why a lot of the criticism misses the mark.

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Why you'd press play

Press play when you want carbon-14 explained without the usual internet fog and fuss.

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