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New Method of Collagen Extraction for Radiocarbon Dating

Abstract

DATING by the radiocarbon method is of primary importance for archaeological studies and on many sites bones are the only samples which can be dated1. The losses arising from the destruction of bones for dating purposes is not very important, whereas it is a pity to destroy clothes or wooden items associated with the civilization being studied. It is also more logical to use bones for dating an archaeological level than to use wood or artefacts, for example, which are not necessarily contemporary with the site occupation2. There are, however, frequent and often important errors in 14C bone measurements which arise chiefly because of the difficulty of eliminating completely the numerous pollutants during chemical treatment.

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LONGIN, R. New Method of Collagen Extraction for Radiocarbon Dating. Nature 230, 241–242 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/230241a0

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