Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was developed in the late 1940s at the University of Chicago by Willard Libby.

What is carbon dating and what is its importance?

Carbon dating is a technique that has been used by archaeologists and various other life scientists to determine the approximate age of carbon-based materials. These materials can either originate from living matter or be inanimate objects.