How to Send Samples for Radiocarbon Dating

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Reminders

• Turnaround time: Our quoted turnaround time starts the following day of receipt at the Miami laboratory, excluding weekends.
  
  
• Returning Excess Samples: If you want excess samples to be returned, please provide return shipping instructions. More details can be found on the page Sample Retention and Return of Excess Materials.
  
  
• Communication and Sample Disposal: Beta Analytic will dispose of samples after 6 months that there is pending communication and no response has been received from the client on how to proceed. 
   
• 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 ask us to contact you for discussion before incurring charges.
  
  
• Our Professional Archaeology Policy: Materials with commercial value are not accepted, including houses. Beta Analytic only accepts samples submitted by research and academic institutions or professional archaeologists. We do not date 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 a 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.
  
  
• To meet the requirements of the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property and not abet trade of looted cultural property, Beta Analytic does not date art works, artifacts or antiquities from private persons, antiquities dealers, auction houses or private collections.
  
  

Other Topics:

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