How do scientists date artifact?

The earliest method of dating artifacts is to look at which strata of rock they are found within. There exist large databases that tell us which artifacts corresponding to which civilizations are found in certain layers of soil, often giving us context for dating an artifact. The business of archeology is careful for this reason - to accurately determine the layer in which the artifact is found, each layer must be removed carefully during the dig. Unevenness in the soil and rock can complicate dating by stratification.

Another method for dating artifacts is called typology, which simply means the study of types. In typology, a researcher studies the material of an artifact, its form, and its likely purpose. Due to technological necessity, more complex artifacts are newer than simpler artifacts, so often an artifact can be dated simply by looking what it is made of and how sophisticated a process went into making it. If the artifact is from a civilization that possessed written records, dating is even easier because there are textual clues as to which artifacts were produced during which eras.

The most powerful method of artifact dating is carbon-14 dating. Because this method only works on once living things, it can only be used to date organic artifacts or bits of organic material located next to the find. Carbon-14 is a carbon isotope, found in about one out of every trillion carbon atoms.