Dating the time of birth: A radiocarbon calibration curve for human eye-lens crystallines
✍ Scribed by Henrik Kjeldsen; Jan Heinemeier; Steffen Heegaard; Christina Jacobsen; Niels Lynnerup
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2010
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 289 KB
- Volume
- 268
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0168-583X
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Radiocarbon bomb-pulse dating has been used to measure the formation age of human eye-lens crystallines. Lens crystallines are special proteins in the eye-lens that consist of virtually inert tissue. The experimental data show that the radiocarbon ages to a large extent reflect the time of birth, in accordance with expectations. Moreover, it has been possible to develop an age model for the formation of the eye-lens crystallines. From this model a radiocarbon calibration curve for lens crystallines has been calculated. As a consequence, the time of birth of humans can be determined with an accuracy of a few years by radiocarbon dating.