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rice

Radiocarbon Calibration Equations

Radiocarbon is widely used for dating a range of archaeological and geographical objects. This package provides a number of functions to calibrate radiocarbon dates, including ones to transfer values between different timescales (F14, D14C, pMC, C14 ages), to simulate the impacts of contamination, and to plot one or more calibrated dates.

Please check out the vignettes folder for a tutorial. In short, install the package from github, load it and run the two main functions:

require(remotes)
install_github("Maarten14C/rice")
library(rice)
calibrate(2450,20)
contaminate(55000, 100, .05, 1)
draw.contamination()

Installation

To use high-resolution maps, install the rnaturalearthhires package from GitHub (see https://github.com/ropensci/rnaturalearthhires).

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Version

Install

install.packages('rice')

Monthly Downloads

1,277

Version

1.6.2

License

GPL (>= 2)

Maintainer

Maarten Blaauw

Last Published

January 22nd, 2026

Functions in rice (1.6.2)

Find the calBP age(s) crossing a C14 age.

Calculate pMC values from C14 ages

Transform Delta14C into pMC

Transform Delta14C into F14C

adjust.background

Adjust a radiocarbon age for background measurements

adjust.fractionation

Adjust a radiocarbon age for fractionation

Calculate C14 ages from F14C values.

To be deprecated. Use C14.F14C instead

calculate cal BC/AD ages from b2k ages

Calculate age ranges

To be deprecated. Use C14topMC instead.

Combine multiple radiocarbon dates assuming they belong to the same single year

Find the 14C age and error belonging to a b2k age.

Combine multiple radiocarbon dates within bins

To be deprecated. Calculate C14 ages from F14C values.

Transform Delta14C into C14 age

Calculate F14C values from C14 ages

Find the F14C and error belonging to a b2k age.

calBPtoDelta14C

Find the Delta14C and error belonging to a cal BP age.

Find the F14C and error belonging to a cal BP age.

Find the 14C age and error belonging to a cal BP age.

Find the pMC and error belonging to a b2k age.

calculate cal BP ages from b2k ages

calculate cal BC/AD ages from cal BP ages

Find the Delta14C and error belonging to a b2k age.

Find the pMC and error belonging to a cal BP age.

calculate b2k ages from cal BP ages

Simulate removing contamination from a radiocarbon age

Comparison dates calibrated using both the t distribution (Christen and Perez 2009) and the normal distribution.

Draw Delta14C and the calibration curve.

Draw the asymmetric relationship between 14C and F14C

Make a table of calibrated dates

Draw a calibration curve.

Simulate the impact of contamination on a radiocarbon age

Calculate calibrated distribution

Plot individual calibrated dates.

draw.contamination

Draw contamination impacts

Amount of C14 particles in a sample

Check whether hpds of two distributions overlap

add calibrated distributions to a plot.

Estimate a missing radiocarbon age from fractions

translate between timescales

Plot regional shell-derived dR values

Find the calibrated probability of a calendar age for a 14C date.

Calculate highest posterior density

Calculate the amount of muck/contamination to explain an observed C14 age

Find nearby shell-derived dR values

To be deprecated. Use pMCtoC14 instead.

Test if a set of radiocarbon dates can be combined

point.estimates

Calculate a point estimate

Calculate C14 ages from pMC values.

Probability of a date lying within a cal BP range

Calculate pMC ages from F14C values.

Transform pMC into Delta14C

Add a gamma distribution to a calibrated date

Find the probability of a calibrated date being older than a certain age

The overlap between calibrated C14 dates

The time span between two calibrated dates

rice: Radiocarbon Equations

Plot and summarize the dR values

The spread among calibrated dates

Radiocarbon Equations

Smooth a calibration curve

return a random calendar age from a calibrated distribution

Add a normal distribution to a calibrated date

Calculate the weighted mean of C14 ages

Find the probability of a calibrated date being of a certain age or younger than it

Find the pMC and error belonging to a cal BC/AD age.

calculate cal BP ages from cal BC/AD ages

Find the b2k age(s) crossing a C14 age.

Find the Delta14C and error belonging to a cal BC/AD age.

calculate b2k from cal BC/AD ages

Transform C14 age(s) into Delta14C

Calculate F14C values from C14 ages

Find the 14C age and error belonging to a cal BC/AD age.

Find the cal BCAD age(s) crossing a C14 age.

Find the F14C and error belonging to a cal BC/AD age.

Calculate pMC ages from F14C values.

Transform F14C into Delta14C

Calculate C14 ages from F14C values.