¹⁴C of Plant Macrofossils

Since the beginning of the 1990s, chronological frameworks of terrestrial records are mostly based on accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating on plant macrofossils. In contrast to the previous use of bulk organic matter, plant macrofossils are inherently more reliable since the source of their carbon is known and should not be composed of heterogeneous material that could be of different ages. Nevertheless, inconsistencies even within the plant macrofossils chronologies are still common. This article aims to review the most common plant macrofossils and to consider their suitability and reliability for ¹⁴C-AMS dating.