Radiocarbon dating expert Associate Professor Fiona Petchey explains why her research focuses on shell artefacts in New Zealand and the Pacific. Shell is a common material...

Dr Marcus Vandergoes, of GNS Science, outlines the relative and absolute dating methods used on a sediment core from Ōkārito Pākihi in Westland. AMS radiocarbon dating...

Radiocarbon dating, also known as carbon-14 dating, is one of several methods referred to as absolute dating – but here’s an interesting fact. There is nothing...

When an organism dies, it no longer absorbs carbon-14. The C-14 it does contain in its tissues starts to decay at a constant rate. Name: Radiocarbon...

Geologists often need to know the age of material that they find. They use absolute dating methods, sometimes called numerical dating, to give rocks an actual...

Scientists often need to know the actual dates of geological events so they can study landscape and environmental change. Absolute dating methods provide this type of...

Professor of Archaeological Science and Deputy Director of the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit Tom Higham explains the science behind radiocarbon dating and how he has refined...

Dr Christine Prior is Team Leader of the Rafter Radiocarbon Laboratory at GNS Science. In this video, she compares conventional and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon...

Associate Professor Fiona Petchey is using carbon-14 (C-14) to date artefacts of historical importance excavated from the Wairau Bar archaeological site in Blenheim. However, pre-1950 samples...

Some of the sediment in the Ōkārito core does not contain much organic material, so pollen is concentrated to give a big enough sample for accelerator...

Transcript Moa bone excavated The Wairau Bar in Blenheim is one of the oldest archaeological sites in New Zealand. Amongst the artefacts that have been found...

In this video, Dr Fiona Petchey, from the Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Unit based at the University of Waikato, explains the use of standards in the carbon-14...

Director of the Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory at the University of Waikato Associate Professor Fiona Petchey talks about radiocarbon dating calibration curves and the challenges they present....

Environmental and dating evidence at Ōkārito Pākihi. Pollen data clearly shows four periods with different climate conditions. Only key dates are shown, summarising many other measurements...

Accelerator mass spectrometer at Rafter Radiocarbon Laboratory, National Isotope Centre. This NEC 500kV compact accelerator mass spectrometer was installed in February 2010. It provides fast high-precision...

Athol Rafter was a pioneer of radiocarbon dating – the Rafter Radiocarbon Laboratory at GNS Sciences, Lower Hutt, is named after him. Rafter played a part...

Dr Fiona Petchey from the Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Unit based at the University of Waikato, explains what an isotope is. She then focuses on the isotopes...

The marine reservoir effect (MRE) affects radiocarbon dating because the carbon consumed by organisms like shellfish in the ocean is older than the organism and further...

Position: Associate Professor and Director of the Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, University of Waikato. Field: Radiocarbon dating. Associate Professor Fiona Petchey is Director of the Waikato...

Athol Rafter (1913–1996) pioneered the technique of radiocarbon dating in New Zealand and began the long-term measurement of 14CO2 in the atmosphere. null

Associate Professor Fiona Petchey, Deputy Director of the University of Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, is researching ways to refine the marine calibration curve used for converting...

Associate Professor Fiona Petchey is involved in research projects that aim to refine radiocarbon dating of marine samples and artefacts in New Zealand and the South...

Fiona (pictured here in 2009) with collagen extracted from a moa bone, for dating. Extracting the most reliable form of carbon from a sample is key...

To mark Athol Rafter’s 80th birthday, the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences named their dating facility the Rafter Radiocarbon Laboratory. null