Release of the Radiocarbon Report & Link

[proto57]

I don't understand the numbers under "Radiocarbon Age (yrs BP )". Can someone explain to me how this is converted into concrete years ?

Hi... "yrs BP" means "Years Before Present". But for "present" the year 1950 is used (for reasons relating to nuclear testing having altered levels of radioactive carbon unnaturally in the environment after that point).

So for the sample from f8, for instance, which reads: 490 ± 37 BP, it is read as "490 years, plus or minus 37 years, before 1950". The plus or minus 37 is an error range. So the tests are showing that the sample from f8 tests to the year 1460, with an error range from 1423 to 1497.

The varied dates within the error range also vary in probability, and the math behind those probabilities is something I'll leave to someone more mathematically inclined to explain. I mean I understand what they are, and the reasoning behind the derivation of the probabilities, but I am not well versed in the mathematical notation and process used.

I hope that covers it...

Rich.