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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 realms (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(devtools)
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 (also install devtools if you haven't already):

install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("ropensci/rnaturalearthhires")

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Version

Install

install.packages('rice')

Monthly Downloads

870

Version

1.2.0

License

GPL (>= 2)

Maintainer

Maarten Blaauw

Last Published

June 13th, 2025

Functions in rice (1.2.0)

adjust.fractionation

Adjust a radiocarbon age for fractionation
age.F14C

To be deprecated. Use C14.F14C instead
b2ktoC14

Find the 14C age and error belonging to a b2k age.
b2ktoD14C

Find the pMC and error belonging to a b2k age.
calibrate

Plot individual calibrated dates.
b2ktoF14C

Find the F14C and error belonging to a b2k age.
b2ktocalBP

calculate cal BP ages from b2k ages
calib.t

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

Combine multiple radiocarbon dates assuming they belong to the same single year
b2ktoBCAD

calculate BC/AD ages from b2k ages
C14topMC

Calculate pMC values from C14 ages
calBPtoC14

Find the 14C age and error belonging to a cal BP age.
calBPtoD14C

Find the pMC and error belonging to a cal BP age.
calBPtoF14C

Find the F14C and error belonging to a cal BP age.
draw.D14C

Draw d14C and the calibration curve.
b2ktopMC

Find the pMC and error belonging to a b2k age.
draw.ccurve

Draw a calibration curve.
calBPtob2k

calculate b2k ages from cal BP ages
contaminate

Simulate the impact of contamination on a radiocarbon age
clean

Simulate removing contamination from a radiocarbon age
age.pMC

To be deprecated. Use C14topMC instead.
as.bin

Combine multiple radiocarbon dates within bins
calBPtoBCAD

calculate BC/AD ages from cal BP ages
fractions

Estimate a missing radiocarbon age from fractions
find.shells

Find nearby shell-derived dR values
p.range

Probability of a date lying within a cal BP range
caldist

Calculate calibrated distribution
calBPtopMC

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

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

To be deprecated. Use pMCtoC14 instead.
hpd

Calculate highest posterior density
howmanyC14

Amount of C14 particles in a sample
fromto

translate between realms
l.calib

Find the calibrated probability of a calendar age for a 14C date.
pMCtoC14

Calculate C14 ages from pMC values.
map.shells

Plot regional shell-derived dR values
muck

Calculate the amount of muck/contamination to explain an observed C14 age
pMCtoD14C

Transform F14C into D14C
shells.mean

Plot and summarize the dR values
shells

shells Data
overlap

The overlap between calibrated C14 dates
pool

Test if a set of radiocarbon dates can be combined
span

The time span between two calibrated dates
spread

The spread among calibrated dates
push.normal

Add a normal distribution to a calibrated date
rice-package

rice: Radiocarbon Equations
rice

Radiocarbon Equations
point.estimates

Calculate a point estimate
push.gamma

Add a gamma distribution to a calibrated date
draw.contamination

Draw contamination impacts
pMCtoF14C

Calculate pMC ages from F14C values.
shroud

shroud Data
draw.dates

add calibrated distributions to a plot.
weighted_means

Calculate the weighted mean of C14 ages
younger

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

return a random calendar age from a calibrated distribution
smooth.curve

Smooth a calibration curve
BCADtoC14

Find the 14C age and error belonging to a BC/AD age.
BCADtoF14C

Find the F14C and error belonging to a BC/AD age.
C14toF14C

Calculate F14C values from C14 ages
C14toBCAD

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

calculate cal BP ages from BC/AD ages
BCADtopMC

Find the pMC and error belonging to a BC/AD age.
C14tob2k

Find the b2k age(s) crossing a C14 age.
C14toD14C

Transform C14 age(s) into D14C
D14CtopMC

Transform D14C into pMC
F14C.age

To be deprecated. Calculate C14 ages from F14C values.
adjust.background

Adjust a radiocarbon age for background measurements
D14CtoC14

Transform D14C into C14 age
D14CtoF14C

Transform D14C into F14C
F14CtopMC

Calculate pMC ages from F14C values.
BCADtob2k

calculate b2k from BC/AD ages
C14tocalBP

Find the calBP age(s) crossing a C14 age.
F14CtoD14C

Transform F14C into D14C
F14CtoC14

Calculate C14 ages from F14C values.
BCADtoD14C

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