Combining archaeological and radiocarbon information: a Bayesian approach to calibration.
Abstract
A recent and significant improvement in radiocarbon dating has been the increased ability of the radiocarbon laboratories to provide results combining precision with accuracy. This improvement has been accompanied by increasing recognition that the information must be expressed on the calendar, rather than on the radiocarbon, time-scale. Despite the attempts of Ottaway (1987) and Pearson (1987), archaeologists are not sufficiently aware of the statistical problems involved in the transformation from one scale to the other: ‘Some of the trouble lies in the ignorance of radiocarbon consumers; the many attempts to educate them can have only limited success when radiocarbon study depends on statistical concepts and methods far beyond the average archaeologist’s innumerate grasp’ (Chippindale 1990: 203).
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Large datasets covering long, continuous stratigraphic sequences are best able to contribute to chronological debates, since prior knowledge of relative order can be used to constrain radiocarbon probabilities using Bayesian statistics.
“Large datasets covering long, continuous stratigraphic sequences are best able to contribute to chronological debates, since prior knowledge of relative order can be used to constrain the radiocarbon probabilities using Bayesian statistics [116–118].”
From The chronology of Gezer from the end of the late bronze age to iron age II: A meeting point for radiocarbon, archaeology egyptology and the Bible (2023) · cites this paper as [116]
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- Authors
- Buck, C. E., Kenworthy, J. B., Litton, C. D., & Smith, A. F. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Nottingham (GB)
- Imperial College London (GB)
- ORCID
- Buck, C. E.
- Venue
- Antiquity
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 1991-12
- Volume
- 65
- Issue
- 249
- Pages
- 808-821
- ISSN
- 0003-598X (ISSN-L)
- 1745-1744
- OpenAlex
- W1528823637
- Cited by
- 296
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 5.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Antiquity (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Tree-ring climate responses
- Keywords
- radiocarbon dating, Bayesian calibration, archaeological chronology, precision and accuracy
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