Placing radiocarbon dating at the center of collective archaeological practice

Abstract

ABSTRACT Radiocarbon analysis is a common tool used to obtain the absolute ages of materials from archaeological contexts. This method underlies the basis of most archaeological chronologies across the globe, allowing us to better understand the temporality of past events. However, in the American Southeast, research by a small number of academic archaeologists who are interested in specific kinds of sites, time periods, and research questions drive radiocarbon dating efforts. This creates an uneven distribution of chronological and temporal frameworks that limits our interpretation of human behavior across time and space. In this report, we argue that if archaeologists want to control for time in the same way that we control for space in our interpretations of the archaeological record, radiocarbon dating must be practiced using a standardized methodology in all realms of archaeological practice – cultural resource management, academia, museums, and government agencies. To do this, archaeologists need to (1) better date individual sites and groups of related sites and (2) build an aggregate data set that more accurately reflects the reality of human behavior across time. We argue that cultural resource management, specifically, can play a key role in helping put radiocarbon analysis at the center of archaeological practice.