The main isotope used for determining the age of artifacts in Archaeology is carbon 14, however there are many others.
Other radiometric methods (methods based on the decay rates of radioactive isotopes) include:
A climate based method, based on the "Oxygen Isotope timescale" can be used to broadly date things and uses ratios of Oxygen 18 to Oxygen 16.
Commonly, carbon 14. Though others may be used depending on the substance.
carbon-14
carbon-14
Carbon 14
Most commonly Carbon 14.
The isotope of carbon is used to date the ancient fossils. Since every living creature had organic matter and carbon is an integral part of that organic matter, it is conventional to use carbon isotope.
Dating fossils and artifacts are easy. Scientist can look and tell how old the fossils by how many layers is under it.
Because they want to sound smarticles
any other artifact or geological strata and compare it. Go to tables with similar artifacts.
Most commonly Carbon 14.
The isotope of carbon is used to date the ancient fossils. Since every living creature had organic matter and carbon is an integral part of that organic matter, it is conventional to use carbon isotope.
Dating fossils and artifacts are easy. Scientist can look and tell how old the fossils by how many layers is under it.
Because they want to sound smarticles
any other artifact or geological strata and compare it. Go to tables with similar artifacts.
Scientists take samples of the carbon remaining in the fossil. They then use a form of carbon dating to determine its age. (it doesn't have to be a fossil, it could be any ancient remain, even a skull from fifty years ago, or a plate from the 1700's. Just wanted to clarify that a little bit more!)
Radioactive isotope dating (potassium, argon) and relative dating, comparing with fossils of the same characteristics with known dates. Particularly if they are known to be 'zone fossils'
The basic idea is to compare the abundance of a naturally occurring radioactive isotope within a material to the abundance of its decay products; it is known how fast the radioactive isotope decays.
Radiocarbon or Carbon-14 is an isotope of the element carbon. It is used extensively in archeology for dating artifacts. It can date carbon artifacts for upto 60,000 years. C-14 decays to non radioactive nitrogen-14 with half life of 5730 years.
Archaeologists routinely use carbon dating on ancient artifacts in order to find an approximate date for them. Conservationist and Preservationists will also use carbon dating to find the date of objects they are working on.
Artifacts can date back thousands to millions of years, depending on the material and preservation conditions. The oldest known artifacts, such as stone tools and cave paintings, date back to millions of years ago.
Stratigraphy, the relative positon of fossils in a sediment bed, is a common method. Assuming the beds lie in their natural position.Dating by using radioactive decay is another method used mainly for sub-fossil material such as archaeological artifacts; or for materials of geological age.