Standardizing Procedures for Collecting, Submitting, Recording, and Reporting Radiocarbon Samples

Abstract

A new radiocarbon sample record form has been compiled for consensus among radiocarbon daters and users. The form is designed to obtain comprehensive standardized documentation of radiocarbon dates for reporting and disseminating valuable data. This method of reporting 14 C dates will help resolve problems which include: 1) publication of all dated samples, 2) selection of significant samples, 3) interpretation of data, 4) recognition of problematic dates, 5) maintenance of an active archive of 14 C dates, and 6) implementation of an international retrieval system for dates.