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 you carbon date a live tree?

No. Carbon dating works because we are constantly consuming sources of carbon with carbon-14 while we are alive, replenishing the relatively higher ratio of this isotope to its non-decaying peers, carbon-12 and -13. When we die, we are no longer replenishing that, and it begins to decay.

Can you radiocarbon date living things?

Dating games The basis of radiocarbon dating is simple: all living things absorb carbon from the atmosphere and food sources around them, including a certain amount of natural, radioactive carbon-14. They will be published in the journal Radiocarbon in the next few months.