A SIMPLIFIED APPROACH TO CALIBRATING C-14 DATES

We propose a simplified approach to the calibration of radiocarbon dat es. We use splines through the tree-ring data as calibration curves, t hereby eliminating a large part of the statistical scatter of the actu al data points. To express the age range, we transform the +/- 1 sigma and +/- 2 sigma values of the BP age to calendar dates and interpret them as the 68% and 95% confidence intervals. this approach bypasses t he conceptual problems of the transfer of individual probability value s from the radiocarbon to the calendar age. We have adapted software t o make this calibration possible.