Tried carbon dating a piece of wood from an old well and got a totally useless result

I sent a sample from a 19th century farmstead in Vermont to the lab last spring, but the dates came back spanning 400 years because the wood was waterlogged and contaminated with root infiltrates. Has anyone else wasted money on a sample that turned out to be a dud?

2 comments

2 Comments

mason_davis20h ago

Did you try any pretreatment to remove the contaminants before sending it in? I've heard folks have better luck with waterlogged wood if they do a solvent wash first but it's obviously more work.

lee.casey14h ago

Try an acid-base-acid wash next time @mason_davis, it fixed similar contamination for me.