Statistical analysis of radiocarbon dates as a tool for reconstruction of the environmental changes

Statistical analysis of large sets of 14C dates may be a source of information on global or regional environmental changes. Since the nineteen seventies, an analysis of the frequency distribution on a time scale of 14C-dated samples has been carried out for several selected geographic regions. This paper presents basics of the applied method and examples of cumulative probability density functions constructed for 14C dates of peat from territory of Poland. It is emphasised that preferential sampling plays an important role in such a type of analysis. The problem of absolute age determination has been discussed, too.