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Using radiogenic isotope geology.

Carbon dating only works on very recent things (up to a few tens of thousands of years). For older things like the earth and these fossils, slower-ticking radiometric clocks (like Uranium-Lead clocks) must be used. There was a great COSMOS episode discussing the history of it [1] but the fascinating math and science behind it is better explained for the layperson in [2].

[1] http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/cosmos-a-spacetime-ody...

[2] https://whatisnuclear.com/physics/age_of_earth.html



>"Carbon dating only works on very recent things"

Ironically, it doesn't work well at all for dating very recent objects though, at least without a huge fudge factor that could only be applied if very specific info is available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Radiocarbon_bomb_spike.sv...


There are other dating techniques that use trace radioactive elements from nuclear bomb testing that have accumulated in living organisms.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867405...


Well, I meant very recent in the geological sense ;)

Good calibration curves accounting for things like that in your link are definitely required to get modern-era results, and with a 5,730 year half-life, it's difficult to even make meaningful measurements to throw onto the curve. So you're right.




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