ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the general principles of the radiocarbon dating method, the chemical procedures used for preparing the samples, and the details of the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) measurements and discusses the results obtained from the analysis. The AMS radiocarbon dating setup at Centre for Dating and Diagnostics (CEDAD) can be described as formed by an ion source and a low- and a high-mass spectrometer connected by the Tandetron accelerator. The centre hosts an accelerator laboratory and chemical laboratories for samples processing and is involved in fundamental and applied researches in different fields, including radiocarbon dating, cultural heritage diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and material sciences. In the cultural heritage field, the centre is a well-established facility for radiocarbon dating and for the compositional analysis of materials by means of non-destructive nuclear spectroscopic techniques Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) such as Particle-Induced X-Ray Emission (PIXE), Particle-Induced Gamma Ray Emission (PIGE), and (RBS).
