The contribution of radiocarbon dating to archaeology in Britain

Abstract

Radiocarbon dating has been particularly advantageous to British archaeology in establishing coordina­tion of isolated cultures or artefacts with one another and with known systems inside and outside Britain, in the chronological placing of structures (for example trackways and boats) for which typology is inadequate, and in the relation of cultural stages to geological, climatic and vegetational changes in the environment, including those induced by activities of the cultures themselves. It offers solution to the problems of ‘sloping horizons’ associated with time lag and overlap in the outward spread of cultures. A major achievement has been the revision of Mesolithic and Neolithic chronology, but many more cultures and facies of cultures currently are being illuminated by carbon dating as suitable material becomes available. After correction of radiocarbon to sidereal years by the bristle-cone pine based calibration curve it becomes possible to relate medieval timber buildings directly to the historical record. In conjunction with pollen-analysis of lake-muds and peat deposits it is now possible to date and characterize the spread of disforestation and attendant pastoral and arable agricul­ture. Finally the whole environmental scene of prehistoric man is brought into coordination by carbon dating. It has even played some part in the disclosure of frauds and errors.