Dating--Vive la Différence

Radiocarbon ages are widely used in archaeology and the geological sciences to date events from the modern to beyond the Last Glacial Maximum. But atmospheric radiocarbon concentrations vary widely at many time scales. In his Perspective, Adkins explains how Siani et al. circumvent this problem, enabling them to determine absolute ages for ocean surface water temperature records. The results help understand how variations in surface radiocarbon reservoir ages relate to climatic changes during the last deglaciation.