Text Alternative for Radiocarbon Dating Figure 20
An accessible text alternative for figure 20 of a flow diagram to illustrate the steps needed when deciding which waterlogged plant remains should be dated.
Identify waterlogged plant material.
Is it non-terrestrial, if so it might have a hard-water error - be afraid.
If it is terrestrial, is the material short-lived?
If not, do sufficient annual growth rings survive to consider wriggle-matching and does it have a heartwood/sapwood boundary?
If yes, then consider it for dating?
If not, be afraid and try and find something better.
If the material is short-lived, then does a single element weigh more than 60mg?
If yes, then it is a suitable choice for dating. (1st choice)
If not, can items of the same species be bulked together so that they weigh more than 60mg?
If yes, then it's suitable for dating, but it's not as good as if a single item can be found at 60mg. (2nd choice)
If you can't find items of the same species that could be bulked to make 60mg then can you find elements from different species?
If yes, then it's suitable for dating. It's not as good as if you've got a single item that weighs 60mg or you've got a number of items of the same species that weigh 60mg. (3rd choice)
If elements from different species cannot be bulked together to make more than 60mg, then your sample is unlikely to contain sufficient carbon for dating.
