Debate: Are we dating pre-Columbian sites wrong by using C14 calibration curves?

I used to just take radiocarbon dates at face value from the lab reports. Then I read about how the calibration curve for the Southern Hemisphere lags by about 40 years before 1950 AD. Now I'm second-guessing a bunch of dates from a site in Peru I looked at last month. Which camp are you in - trust the raw numbers or always calibrate based on location?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_nathan26d ago

Funny, I used to be in the "raw numbers tell the truth" camp too. But after reading that same stuff about the Southern Hemisphere lag for a site in Chile, I pretty much flipped. Now I won't even look at a date without checking what curve we're using.

evanpalmer26d ago

Got whiplash from that same Chile data myself @the_nathan. Felt pretty silly refreshing the raw numbers every hour just to watch them say nothing useful. These curves are humbling, like finding out your favorite shortcut is actually a dead end.