Chief Egyptologist called for the abandonment of radiocarbon dating

[SergeiSK]

One of the most authoritative modern archaeologists Zahi Hawass, chairman of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, spoke against the application of the method of radiocarbon dating in archeology. In an interview with Al-Masry Al-Yum, a scientist said that this method is not precise enough.
Thus Hawass commented on the results of a recent study by an international team of scientists led by Christopher Bronco Ramsey, who with the help of radiocarbon analysis cross-checked to conventional dating of the major events of the history of ancient Egypt.
"The dating of carbon-14 has an error in 100 years - said Zahi Hawass. - It is too much for the dating of ancient Egyptian dynasties. Do not use radiocarbon dating. This method does not use when we work out the chronology of ancient Egypt, even as a useful supplement."
To reduce the error of their dating, Ramsey Group, in addition to radiocarbon dating, took advantage of the mathematical theory of probability. These researchers dating at key points (for the building of the pyramid Djoser, the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II and Tutankhamen and others) not too different from the conventional.
The method of radiocarbon dating was proposed in 1949 by the American chemist Willard Libby. It is believed that this idea of it prompted one of the teachers, the great physicist Enrico Fermi. In 1960, Libby received for the method is the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
The method consists in measuring the ratio of radioactive carbon isotope 14C and stable isotopes of this element in organic material. Knowing the half-life of 14C (5730 years), age of the material can be determined based on how much content in it decreased the radioactive isotope. For this sample of the test material is exposed to numerous chemical influences, and finally burned to coals.
Despite the known error of the method, it is widely used in the study of ancient artifacts. The most famous example of the use of radiocarbon dating can be considered to study with the help of the Shroud of Turin - according to legend, the burial shroud of Jesus Christ. Radiocarbon dating of the Shroud was held in 1988, and although it is not possible to accurately determine the time of its manufacture, but has become an important argument in favor of her fake. The scientists concluded that it appeared no earlier than mid-XIII and XIV, no later than the end of the century, and not in the I century AD .
(Lenta.Ru)