CONTAMINATION OF RADIOCARBON ANALYSES OF PLANT SAMPLES BY FUNGAL HYPHAE

Abstract

ABSTRACTFungal hyphae associated with tree roots extending into the surrounding substrate are suspected to have to contaminated buried plant material with recent carbon in two examples and to have resulted in erroneously young radiocarbon ages. This problem might be overcome by choosing sampling sites far from trees or by analyzing the lignin component of samples, although the latter is presently difficult.