RADIOCARBON CALIBRATION AND COMPARISONS: A PREVIEW OF COMING ATTRACTIONS

Many Quaternary studies depend on radiocarbon calibration for comparison between paleorecords based on ¹⁴C ages and those based on other timescales. It is therefore essential to have a standard radiocarbon calibration datasets for such intercomparisons to be valid, rather than using an ad hoc mixture of ¹⁴C datasets without proper consideration of potential errors in timescale or carbon reservoir corrections. The IntCal04 Radiocarbon calibration/Comparison Working Group has put together a set of criteria for assuring datasets are sufficiently robust in both the cal ages and the radiocarbon ages and that the uncertainties are quantified (Reimer et al., 2002).

Refinements and additions to IntCal98 should result in a calibration dataset back to ca. 30 ka BP, which will be presented for ratification at the 19th International Radiocarbon Conference in Wellington, New Zealand. In addition, the IntCal04 Group is working towards a recommendation for comparing ¹⁴C based chronologies beyond 30 ka BP where few absolutely dated records exist and there is wide discrepancy among them. We will highlight the differences between IntCal98 and the proposed IntCal04 dataset with example radiocarbon calibrations for some important climatic events.

Reimer, PJ, Hughen, KA, Guilderson, TP, McCormac, FG, Baillie, MGL, Bard, E, Barratt, P, Beck, JW, Brown, DM, Buck, CE, Damon, PE, Friedrich, M, Kromer, B, Ramsey, CB, Reimer, RW, Remmele, S, Southon, JR, Stuiver, M, and van der Plicht, J. 2002. Preliminary Report of the First Workshop of the IntCal04 Radiocarbon Calibration/Comparison Working Group. Radiocarbon 44, (in press).