Radiocarbon Dating Because wood can be dated directly and by radiocarbon, scientists used bristlecone pines to calculate a new calibration curve, and convert radiocarbon results into accurate calendar dates.

Can wood be dated using radiocarbon dating?

When radiocarbon dating a piece of wood or charcoal, the event dated is the growth of the tree ring. Any charcoal or wood sample that is carbon dated will have an apparent age, which may result in errors of up to hundreds of years unless short-lived tree species or twigs are selected for radiocarbon dating.