Get Ready for Field Season: Join SGS Beta for a FREE Webinar!

This post is sponsored by SGS Beta.

Get Ready for the 2026 Field Season! Join SGS Beta for a FREE webinar!

Archaeological Field Sampling and Material Selection for Radiocarbon Dating
May 28, 2026, 11:00 AM EST

Uncover the best practices for archaeological field sampling and material selection for radiocarbon dating. Designed for archaeologists, geoarchaeologists, and heritage professionals, this session will provide practical guidance on selecting the right samples in the field to build robust site chronologies, avoid common pitfalls, and improve the reliability of dating results.

REGISTER!

What you’ll learn:

• Radiocarbon dating in the archaeological context
• Building a robust site chronology: multiple samples, replication, and stratigraphic logic
• Best practices for sample selection & Field sampling strategy: charcoal, bone, seeds, carbonates, sediments, and mixed materials
• Key assumptions & challenges: old wood effect, reworking, intrusive material, reservoir effects, and preservation biases.
• Case studies
• Sample submission

Learn More About Us Before The Webinar!

SGS Beta has been the global leader in radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analysis since 1979. The laboratory values scientific excellence, consistently providing analysis for the archaeological community. Utilizing the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) technique, the lab provides fast and accurate carbon-14 measurements using smaller sample sizes compared to other methods. Our subsidiary, SGS Isobar, is a dedicated isotope analysis laboratory offering uranium-thorium (U-Th) dating, strontium (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) isotopic analysis, lead (Pb), and boron (δ¹¹B) and strontium environmental source tracking. Measurements are performed using the multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) method.