Abstract - The age of late Quaternary events has largely been established by radiocarbon dating , which does not directly measure calendar (sidereal) years because the production of 14C in the atmosphere has varied through time. Recent research allows the radiocarbon time scale to be converted to sidereal years back as far as the last deglacial period. The calibration curve of Stuiver and Reimer (1993, Radiocarbon. 35, 215-230) is presented and used to determine the true calendar age of several major lateglacial hydrological events in North America and to illustrate how the actual length of these events may substantially deviate from those calculated in radiocarbon years.

QSR