12th October 2011, 01:39 PM
there is no point calibrating to BP if you work in archaeology and as far as i know only palaeontologists who work with quarternary scientists and geologist do so. if you get a date from a proper lab they will calibrate using oxcal 4 to give you a range BC or AD at 95% and 62%
the majority of dates in older publications are pretty much useless because they were taken from dumps of burnt looking 'stuff' which may have been from a multiple burning episode and when calibrated now usually produce a date range often over half a millennium or more. some people used to be able to guess the real date from the uncalibrated BP date but nowadays it is better to use the most uptodate calibration programme
the majority of dates in older publications are pretty much useless because they were taken from dumps of burnt looking 'stuff' which may have been from a multiple burning episode and when calibrated now usually produce a date range often over half a millennium or more. some people used to be able to guess the real date from the uncalibrated BP date but nowadays it is better to use the most uptodate calibration programme
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers