Radiocarbon dating Contamination may have occurred during the burial of the bones, or as the result of carbonates that have washed into the sample from the soils. Even poor handling during collecting and packaging of the sample can create cross-contamination between samples or add modern carbon to the sample.

Is carbon14 dating accurate?

New Carbon-14 is produced at a steady rate in Earths upper atmosphere, however, as the Suns rays strike nitrogen atoms. Advancing technology has allowed radiocarbon dating to become accurate to within just a few decades in many cases.