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Radiocarbon calibration for the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic: a comment1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

J. van der Plicht*
Affiliation:
Centrum voor Isotopen Onderzoek, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, Netherlands

Abstract

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Type
Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1999

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Footnotes

BP: 14C ages are reported in BP (Before Present), where Present is defined as 1950 (the ‘standard year’). BP ages are calculated from 14C activities or concentrations as measured by proportional counters, liquid scintillators or Accelerator Mass Spectrometry; by definition, BP includes a correction for isotopic fractionation by means of a measurement of the stable carbon isotope 13C, expressed in 13δ.

BC, AD: historical times (siderial years).

cal BC, cal AD: 14C ages, calibrated into historical ages.

cal BP: for 14C: calibrated before 1950, i.e. cal BP = 1950-cal AD. Also: siderial years before 1950, used for chronologies of ice cores, deep sea cores and laminated sediments.

14Δ: denotes the atmospheric 14CO2 content, expressed as the per mil deviation of the 14 content defined by the international standard (‘1950’) after correction for fractionation and radioactive decay (Stuiver & Polach 1977).

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