D. Gomez Portugal Aguilar, C. D. Litton and A. O'Hagan
University of Sheffield and University of Nottingham
Publication details: Radiocarbon 44, 195-212, 2002.
Analyses for the radiocarbon calibration curve have traditionally proposed a piece-wise linear curve joining the data points. Others make use of cubic splines in order to smooth the data. Here we will propose a model which not only acknowledges the uncertainty in both the calibration curve itself and the data, but also makes use of all the information provided by the data, as well as additional information coming from the theory behind the radiocarbon dating technique. The approach we propose yields a sound structure and provides a new piece-wise linear estimate of the calibration curve, with variance values which seem more realistic than those resulting from other approaches.