Doneraile’s Incised Reindeer Femur
The conversion of 31,832 BCE into a scientific age should not imply false exactitude. Archaeologists conventionally express radiocarbon results in years before present, where “present” means AD 1950. Radiocarbon ages also require calibration because the amount of carbon-14 in the atmosphere has varied over time. For this remote period, the calibration curve is built from several independently dated natural archives rather than from a continuous local Irish record. A laboratory date may therefore translate into a broad calibrated interval, not a single calendar year.