North Cork’s Single Incision
Archaeologists employ several clocks for this period. Radiocarbon results are conventionally reported in years before present, where “present” means AD 1950; because atmospheric carbon has varied through time, those results must be calibrated against independently dated records. Even calibrated dates are ranges of probability, not single moments. Deposits may also have been disturbed by water, frost, scavengers, excavation and later collecting. A bone can date the death of an animal, but it does not necessarily date the formation of a whole cave layer or the arrival of every other object beside it.