Explanation of Search Fields
The search engine used on this database is quite flexible and forgiving. It is not case sensitive. If you are looking for all dates associated with a particular lab, you can simply enter Beta into the Lab # field. If you are looking for Beta lab dates between 2000 and 3000 years BP, enter Beta into the Lab # field, 3000 into the Younger than field, and 2000 into the Older than field. Dates do not require a comma.
Clicking on Reset Form will clear all the fields for a new search.
Region or Borden Block: The upper case letters in the Borden designation (only for sites in Canada). For the contiguous United States, NW retrieves data from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and sites west of the continental divide in Montana and Wyoming; NC retrieves data from Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and sites east of the continental divide in Montana and Wyoming; MW retrieves data from Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, and Wisconsin; and NE retrieves data from the New England states plus Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.return to top of page
Site Code or Borden Number: For Canada, the site designation in the Borden system, reflects latitude and longitude in blocks of 10-20 minutes. Palaeobiological sites lacking such designations are given the suffix "VP". Alaskan site codes begin "AK" followed by a 3-letter designation for the 1:250,000 quadrangle sheet, and a sequence number. Most of the contiguous states use site codes that designate location by county (the Smithsonian System). return to top of page
Site name: The name of a site, if it has one. return to top of page
Location: Province, Territory or State; may contain county, island, or drainage. return to top of page
Lab No.: Number assigned by the radiocarbon laboratory. Dates from a given lab can be retrieved by entering the lab designation e.g., Beta. Note: all dates reported as CWRU are entered here with the DIC prefix. return to top of page
Material dated: charcoal, wood, and bone collagen are commonly dated materials. In addition, you can enter the vernacular name of an animal as a search parameter, for example: bison or human.return to top of page
Significance: Discipline, such as Palaeobiology or Geoarchaeology, or cultural affiliation, such as Palaeoindian, Archaic, Woodland, Palaeoeskimo, Neoeskimo, etc. Dates rejected by the submitters or in conflict with other data are labelled "anomalous." return to top of page
Associated taxa: The scientific names of vertebrates associated with the dates. return to top of page
Submitter: Enter your name here to get a summary table of your own dates. If you find someone else's dates in the list, send a correction. return to top of page
NTS: Enter the number of the National Topographic Sheet (Canada only) using either the short format (73 B) or the long format (73 B/02). return to top of page
