SCIENTISTS in Glasgow have improved the technique for assessing the ages of historical objects, meaning radiocarbon dating is set to become more accurate than it has ever been.

Researchers at the Universities of Glasgow, Sheffield, Belfast, Bristol, Oxford and St Andrews and Historic England, plus international colleagues, used measurements from almost 15,000 samples from objects dating back as far as 60,000 years ago, as part of a seven-year project.

Using the measurements they created new international radiocarbon calibration (IntCal) curves, which are crucial for accurately dating artefacts and making predictions about the future.

With this information archaeologists can restore historic monuments or study the demise of the Neanderthals.