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Radiocarbon Dating: Tool or Magic Wand? 77

Radiocarbon Dating: Tool or

Magic Wand?

Robert F. Helfinstine, P.E.

A rchaeologists, anthropologists and others equilibrium; that is, the amount of decay
involved in researching things of the past equals the amount of new C14 taken in. When
have used the tools of radiocarbon (C14) a plant or animal dies, there is no additional
dating as a supposedly accurate measurement of C14 taken into the tissue, and the C14 de-
time in past history by which they could corre- creases as a function of time with a half-life of
late activities from remote parts of the world. As 5,700 years. By measuring the remaining
the method has been used and the procedures im- C14/C12 ratio in a sample of wood, leather or
proved with modern technology, the assump- ashes from an ancient campfire and compared
tions on which the method has been based have with a “standard” ratio, a theoretical age of
been brought into question. And if the assump- the sample is obtained. How accurate is that
tions are questionable, what about the results? age?
How many individuals who submit samples for
dating understand the limitations of the dating The assumptions (Faure, Gunter,
results? What have been some of the objectives Principles of Isotope Geology, 1977, p. 307)
in obtaining C14 dates? on which the dating is made are: 1. It is inde-
pendent of time for 70,000 years. 2. The value
In Literature of the American Indians, is independent of geologic location. 3. The
by Sanders and Peek, the authors use C14 dating percent of C14 is not species dependent. 4.
of ancient Indian sites to “prove” that the Indian The generation activity of C14 is a known
culture was older than that of the Egyptians, constant. 5. There is no C14 contamination
which was dated by a different method. Charles with modern C14. 6. There is no loss of C14
Ginenthal stated, “...radiocarbon dating is not except by radioactive decay.
employed to test theories, but to support
them...radiocarbon always gives a scattered set Radiocarbon is generated in the upper
of dates. The theorists then pick the ones they be- atmosphere primarily by cosmic ray bom-
lieve to be correct” (”The Extinction of the bardment of nitrogen (N14), converting it to
Mammoth,” The Velikovskian, special edition, C14. The McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Sci-
1997, p. 160). The ages of organic fossils, such ence and Technology states that the concen-
as once living plant or animal remains, are often tration of C14 in the Earth’s atmosphere,
determined by the radiocarbon method. hydrosphere and biosphere is “relatively”
uniform. It then goes on to explain how the
A certain amount of carbon in the living relatively uniform condition is really a vari-
plant or animal tissue is C14, usually obtained in able. A key factor in the C14 generation rate
the form of C14O2 from its environment. In a is the strength of the Earth’s magnetic field.
stable environment, the amount of C14 is in According to the technical monograph, Ori-

The Berean Voice September-October 2002