In the past two years, some of the worldís 14C laboratories
have developed an Internet presence via World Wide Web (WWW) based servers.
This article describes briefly some interesting stops in the 14C world
on the web.
At least 22 radiocarbon laboratories now offer
WWW pages illustrating their services and providing information on their
analytical techniques, prices, turnaround times, pretreatment and sample
preparation methods and laboratory research. At Oxford University in England,
the AMS Unit provides WWW pages which include a background on research
into the use of radiocarbon in archaeology by AMS, as well as downloadable
versions of their Windows based calibration programme OxCal (http://units.ox.ac.uk/departments/rlaha/).
This program allows Bayesian statistical analysis of radiocarbon determinations
and their stratigraphic sequences and phases. The Quaternary Isotope Laboratory
at the University of Washington in Seattle also provides click and download
access to their computer programme CALIB 3.0.3 for radiocarbon age calibration
(http://weber.u.washington.edu/~qil/).
Beta Analytic Inc. (Miami, Florida) present a useful
page explaining their calibration printout which they provide for each
radiocarbon determination from their facility (http://www.win.net/~analytic/).
US laboratories NOSAMS (National Ocean Sciences AMS) at Woods Hole, and
PRIME laboratory at Purdue University in Indiana, offer WWW based search
engines which enable submitters to check on the status of their samples
within the laboratory. At PRIME, the accelerator schedule is updated weekly
online to allow submitters to ascertain the position of their samples in
the queue. The respective URLs for these laboratories are ams245.whoi.edu/nosams.html
and primelab.physics.purdue.edu/web/primelab/
Many radiocarbon facilities offer sample submission
forms to download off the internet but at the Waikato University Laboratory
in New Zealand, submitters can complete a WWW forms based document which
can be filled out and submitted online, and from there transferred simply
onto the lab database (http://www2.waikato.ac.nz/c14/).
The Radiocarbon Laboratory at the University of Texas has prepared an extensive
list of information regarding sample preparation and pretreatment protocols
in their laboratory, many of which are applicable in other labs (http://www.utexas.edu/research/vprl/rc_lab/index.html).
At the Desert Research Institute 14C facility in Las Vegas, there is useful
background information provided regarding the pathway of 14C in the global
reservoirs (http://www.maxey.dri.edu/WRC/Radiocarbon_Lab.html).
At the home page for the journal Radiocarbon
(http://packrat.aml.arizona.edu/),
related 14C information is available including access to radiocarbon databases
and abstract lists, details of Radiocarbon publications and abstracts from
the journal itself. You can also find contact details for the 130 known
active radiocarbon facilities around the world. Assistant Editor David
Sewell, the person responsible for the journalís internet presence, has
also made available an online version of the key 1977 14C paper by Minze
Stuiver and Henry Polach concerned with radiocarbon conventions. In 1995,
Radiocarbon developed an online journal called Radiocarbon Date Lists
(http://packrat.aml.arizona.edu/datelist.html).
Lists of dates were formerly published in the journal itself but this was
discontinued recently. The online version is fully refereed and has been
developed to fill the gap left and ensure that there is a suitable place
to publish laboratory lists which often are not released from laboratory
databases. Radiocarbon also operates the C14 Listserv, an unmoderated
email discussion group for radiocarbon specialists and other individuals
interested in scientific dating generally. At http://listserv.arizona.edu/lsv/www/c14-l.html
an archive of previous listserv mail is available for perusal. To subscribe
to C14-L, consult http://packrat.aml.arizona.edu/announcements/c14-l.html.
The Centre for Isotope Research in Groningen, Netherlands
hosted the 16th International Radiocarbon conference in June 1997. The
conference programme is online at http://www.cio.phys.rug.nl/16proc-2.html.
All URLs for the laboratories and pages described
above are available at Radiocarbon WEB info, a WWW resource containing
information brought online by the Radiocarbon Laboratories at Waikato (NZ)
and Oxford (UK) (http://www2.waikato.ac.nz/c14/webinfo/index.html).
This site contains information regarding the basis of the 14C method of
dating, methods of measuring 14C, radiocarbon calibration, links to other
laboratory pages and a list of references. In addition, it provides links
to WWW pages which illustrate the application of radiocarbon dating to
archaeology. Some pages include the recent online report and dating program
from Stonehenge (by Ancient Monuments Laboratory and English Heritage Scientific
Dating Service, UK), the Origins of Angkor Archaeological Project (University
of Otago, NZ) and the radiocarbon dating of rock art sites from the Ardeche
in France.
The internet resources provided by radiocarbon specialists
thus far have been dominated by laboratories providing material of interest
to submitters of radiocarbon samples. At present, this is its most common
use. Developments in user friendly web based servers provides the opportunity
for archaeologists to literally ìshop aroundî for information regarding
prices and turnaround time, and obtain rapid contact with radiocarbon specialists,
but little in the way of laboratory Quality Assurance program performance
and details of reproducibility have appeared yet.
Databases of radiocarbon determinations will probably
find their most useful location on internet servers. Presentation of information
and reports of radiocarbon determinations from different contexts are usually
not peer reviewed and it goes without saying that caution is required in
their uncritical use.