Accuracy of the Radiocarbon Time-Scale Beyond 15,000 BP

Abstract

Ionium dates for the Upper Lisan Formation in the Dead Sea valley average (10 +/- 3) percent higher than a set of radiocarbon dates from the same profiles. No analytical explanation can be found so that the discrepancy may be real for the period 15,000 BP to 35,000 BP (conventional radiocarbon years). This would have implications for the chronology of the Upper Pleistocene.