How to Send Samples for Radiocarbon Dating

Reminders

Turnaround time – Our quoted turnaround time starts following day of receipt at the Miami laboratory excluding weekends.

Returning Excess Samples – If you want excess samples returned, please provide return shipping instructions. More details can be found on the page Sample Retention and Return of Excess Materials.

Cancellation Fees – There are no cancellation fees for samples that cannot be dated.

Order Change Fees – Requests to cancel samples that are suitable for a C14 measurement will be charged according to the amount of work done at the time of cancellation. Please note we begin analysis within hours of receipt of the sample, so charges begin to accrue almost immediately. If in doubt about the suitability of your samples, you are welcome to send instructions to contact you for discussion before incurring charges.

Materials with commercial value are not accepted – The laboratory does not undertake the dating of manuscripts, objects of art or other valuable or priceless items unless they are submitted and paid for by a recognized governmental agency, major museum, or other official agency that is investigating the materials as part of multidisciplinary scholarly process. The lab does not analyze antiques, books, manuscripts or materials of a religious nature or items which are commonly sold in the antiquities markets.

Other Topics:

• Beta Analytic’s Facilities
• C14 Lab Quality Control
• Standard Pretreatment Protocols