Categories: Labs and Research Stations, Radiocarbon Calibration, Sweden
The Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory in Lund performs dating on geological and archaeological samples.
Examples of material that we date are wood, charcoal, charred seeds, plant macrofossils, peat, bone, burnt bone, mollusc shells, and foraminifera. We also measure 14C in modern samples for determination of biomass content in e.g. plastics, and for environmental monitoring in collaboration with the Biospheric and Anthropogenic Radioactivity (BAR) group at the Division of Nuclear Physics (http://www.nuclear.lu.se/english/research/applied-nuclear-physics/biospheric-and-anthropogenic-radioactivity-the-bar-group/). All analyses are based on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). Natural 14C can be used in numerous applications, of which radiocarbon dating, with the possibility for dating back to about 50000 years, is among the best-known. Radiocarbon dating is based on the radioactive decay of 14C in dead tissues, which can be used to calculate the time that has elapsed since death occurred. This is possible since organisms have the same 14C content as the environment in which they live. After the death of the organism, the carbon which survives decomposition continuously loses 14C in relation to its content of stable 12C.
