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Radiocarbon Dating of Corn

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Darrell Creel  and
Austin Long
Darrell Creel
Affiliation:
Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78758; and Laboratory of Isotope Geochemistry, Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
Austin Long
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Isotope Geochemistry, Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
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Abstract

Nine samples from well-dated prehistoric sites in the southwestern United States have been radiocarbon dated in order to determine the accuracy of 14C dates on corn. The results indicate that a normalized and calibrated 14C date on corn is as accurate an estimate of the sample's age as is a 14C date for any other material. This accuracy has implications not only for future selection of 14C samples but also for interpretation of existing dates on corn and on other kinds of materials.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , October 1986 , pp. 826 - 837
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1986

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References

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