Radiocarbon Equilibrium – Post by Michael J. Findley

Editor’s note: This post is a partial examination of the article cited below. One of the authors, Ken Wolgemuth, gave Findley a PDF copy of the article with a request for comment. The article is written from an Old Earth Creationist (OEC) point of view. Findley comments on the Old Earth ¹⁴C dating suppositions and the conclusions of some Young Earth Creationists (YEC) about ¹⁴C dating.

“…Raising the Carbon-14 content over several hundred years until reaching near-modern levels by the time of Israel’s first king (allowing semi-accurate radiocarbon dating of biblical artifacts)”
Testing and Verifying Old Age Evidence: Lake Suigetsu Varves, Tree Rings, and Carbon-14; Gregg Davidson and Ken Wolgemuth June 2018

Believers in deep time who make comments like this either do not read YEC literature or do not understand what they are reading. Since there are hundreds of well documented articles and books, including several of my own, on this topic, the following is a very incomplete summary of our position.

First, ¹⁴C dating relies on analysis of the ratio of ¹⁴C to ¹²C in a sample. Accurate radiocarbon dating is a complex process. The YEC position is that the volcanic processes during the 2350 BC global flood added so much ¹²C to the global environment from CO₂ that any sample taken soon after the flood would have considerably more ¹²C than any sample from the past 2600 years, when equilibrium was established after the flood.

The Ancient Babylonian Chronicles (ABC) record hundreds of events from the 6^th and 7^th centuries BC. These events are great for radiocarbon dating, since, among these events, the Babylonians burned many cities. Hundreds of radiocarbon samples have been cross-dated with written documents on the destruction of Carthage and other cities burned by the Romans, Persians, Greeks, Hittites, Assyrians, and Egyptians, as well as the Babylonians. ¹⁴C dating is a difficult process, but tens of thousands of samples back to about the 8^th century BC are supported by written documents, other artifacts (primarily pottery), and, in a few cases, dendrochronology (tree ring dating).

But as we go back in time, discrepancies arise. The Exodus is accepted as a historical event by Jews, Christians, Muslims (depending on the type of Muslim), and even many Secular Humanists. Using the statement in I Kings 6:1 that the Exodus took place 480 years before the foundation of the temple was laid, Ussher dates the Exodus as 1491 BC. While there is some question as to the exact date of the Exodus, if you accept I Kings 6:1, then you believe that the Exodus place within a few decades of 1491 BC.

Assuming that the Minoan eruption of Thera coincides with the Exodus, which is not universally accepted by YEC, then radiocarbon dating is off by at least 40 and perhaps as much as 110 years by 1491 BC.

Assuming that Joseph is Imhotep (again, not all YECs do), Jacob entered Egypt according to Josephus in 1706 BC (Ussher). Artifacts associated with Imhotep are radiocarbon dated to be early 27^th century BC. So ¹⁴C dating is more than 900 years older than actual dates by 1700 BC. This is near the end of the Ice Age, so the time the Israelites were in Egypt saw considerable reduction in environmental ¹²C.

Before the time of Abraham (about 1900 BC), the earth experienced much greater volcanic activity than today, keeping environmental ¹²C quite high. Those who believe that environmental ¹²C has remained relatively constant date artifacts from this period 5-10,000 BC. Artifacts ¹⁴C dated older than this have actual dates of about 2200 BC to 2350 BC.

Sea levels were 400 feet lower than today, so people and animals could walk to any place on earth. The oceans were still hot from the volcanic activity of the flood. But the lower sea levels caused ice sheets to form in higher elevations. The Ice Age was caused by elevation. These forces – hot oceans caused by residual volcanic activity from the flood – caused elevated ¹²C in lower elevations while mountains more than 30,000 feet above sea level on every continent reduced the ¹²C in higher elevations. So environmental ¹²C varied greatly by region during the Ice Age, 2350-1700 BC roughly.

So the YEC position is that the oldest possible radiocarbon sample is about 2350 BC. The difficulty obtaining accurate radiocarbon dates for older samples (actual date 2100-2350 BC roughly) is the massive increase in CO₂ from volcanic activity putting massive amounts of ¹²C into the environment. But this ¹²C was not distributed evenly. Lower altitudes had much higher concentrations.