I used to doubt carbon dating, but a simple analogy changed my mind

I always thought carbon dating was just a rough guess for how old stuff is. It seemed too good to be true, like they could just tell from a piece of bone. But then I read an article that compared it to watching a clock run down, which made sense to me. They used it on things like the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the dates matched up with what we know from history. Now I see that it's not perfect, but it's a lot more reliable than I thought. Learning that really changed my view on how we understand the past.

3 comments

3 Comments

terry_thomas1mo agoMost Upvoted

The Dead Sea Scrolls thing is interesting, but that's one case with known history. I just wonder how often it gets cross-checked like that for things where we have no clue. It feels like a useful tool for some stuff, but maybe we put too much weight on it for everything. That clock running down idea is neat, but clocks can be wrong if you don't know what time they started at.

jademartinez1mo ago

Didn't carbon dating seem shaky? But @mitchell.christopher's grid point changed my mind.

mitchell.christopher1mo ago

Yeah the clock starting wrong point is solid. That's why they check it against tree rings and stuff to get the right starting point. It's not just one clock, it's like a whole grid of cross-referenced timekeepers.