Speed Dating: A Rapid Way to Determine the Radiocarbon Age of Wood by EA-AMS

Abstract Radiocarbon measurements in tree rings can be used to estimate atmospheric 14 C concentration and thereby used to create a 14 C calibration curve. When wood is discovered in construction sites, rivers, buildings, and lake sediments, it is unclear if the wood could fill gaps in the 14 C calibration curve or if the wood is of historical interest until the age is determined by dendrochronology or 14 C dating. However, dendrochronological dating is subjected to many requirements and 14 C dating is costly and time consuming, both of which can be frivolous endeavors if the samples are not in the age range of interest. A simplified 14 C dating technique, called Speed Dating, was thus developed. It can be used to quickly obtain 14 C ages as wood samples are neither chemically treated nor graphitized. Instead, wood is combusted in an elemental analyzer (EA) and the CO 2 produced is carried into an accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) with a gas ion source. Within a day, 75 samples can be measured with uncertainties between 0.5–2% depending on the age, preservation, and contaminants on the material and Speed Dating costs about one-third of conventional AMS dates.