ABSTRACT
The method best suited for numerical or absolute dating of human skeletal remains and mummies the present is so-called radiocarbon or carbon-14 (14C) dating. This technique was developed and applied by Willard Frank Libby from the University of Chicago at the end of the 1940s. In keeping with international consensus, the readings obtained by radiocarbon dating are denoted as the conventional 14C or accelerator mass spectrometer 14C age, with 1950 as the zero reference point. Radiocarbon dating is used in many disciplines because it is suitable for a wide variety of materials: all organic materials such as wood, charcoal, plant remains, peat, bone, teeth, ivory, antler, hair, leather and textiles. Radiocarbon dating basically provides a means for so-called ‘bomb peak dating’ to determine the postmortem interval after 1950. Depending on the type of sample, however, the value of the dates is highly dependent on various parameters.
