Carbon dating result took 6 extra weeks, lab said it was 'normal'

Sent a bone fragment from a dig near Flagstaff for dating and the lab quoted 8 weeks, then hit me with a 6 week delay because they had to re-run the sample three times. Turned out the collagen was contaminated by root acids from a nearby juniper, which nobody mentioned upfront. Has anyone else had to push back on a lab's timeline or ask for a pretreat step they didn't offer?

2 comments

2 Comments

richard_dixon21d ago

Did the lab actually say the collagen was contaminated, or did they just mention root acids? Because juniper roots can mess with the dating in different ways, not just through collagen. Sometimes the organic acids mess with the humic fraction instead, and that changes what pretreatment you need. I'd double check what they tested and how they cleaned it, since that might explain why they kept re-running it.

thea85722d ago

Used to be the kind of person who figured labs knew best and you just waited however long they said. This post actually changed my thinking on that. Six extra weeks with no heads up about the root acid problem sounds like they should've mentioned the pretreatment options before you even sent the sample in. I've had a couple of runs where the first pass came back dirty and they just re-ran it silently, which cost me a whole field season once. Now I always ask flat out what they're testing for and what steps they'll take if it comes up contaminated, before I hand over the money.