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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 (also install remotes if you haven't already):

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

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Version

Install

install.packages('rice')

Monthly Downloads

1,249

Version

1.5.0

License

GPL (>= 2)

Maintainer

Maarten Blaauw

Last Published

December 15th, 2025

Functions in rice (1.5.0)

Calculate pMC ages from F14C values.

Calculate C14 ages from F14C values.

calculate b2k ages from cal BP ages

To be deprecated. Use C14topMC instead.

Calculate age ranges

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

calBPtoDelta14C

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

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

adjust.background

Adjust a radiocarbon age for background measurements

Combine multiple radiocarbon dates within bins

calculate cal BC/AD ages from cal BP ages

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

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

calculate cal BC/AD ages from b2k ages

Calculate calibrated distribution

Simulate removing contamination from a radiocarbon age

Find the Delta14C and error belonging to a b2k age.

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

Find the F14C and error belonging to a b2k age.

Draw a calibration curve.

Simulate the impact of contamination on a radiocarbon age

draw.contamination

Draw contamination impacts

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

adjust.fractionation

Adjust a radiocarbon age for fractionation

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

Plot regional shell-derived dR values

Check whether hpds of two distributions overlap

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

Estimate a missing radiocarbon age from fractions

translate between timescales

To be deprecated. Use C14.F14C instead

calculate cal BP ages from b2k ages

calibrate.table

Make a table of calibrated dates

Plot individual calibrated dates.

add calibrated distributions to a plot.

Find the pMC and error belonging to a b2k age.

The overlap between calibrated C14 dates

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

Probability of a date lying within a cal BP range

Calculate C14 ages from pMC values.

Amount of C14 particles in a sample

Calculate highest posterior density

Test if a set of radiocarbon dates can be combined

Plot and summarize the dR values

Smooth a calibration curve

Add a gamma distribution to a calibrated date

Transform pMC into Delta14C

Add a normal distribution to a calibrated date

rice: Radiocarbon Equations

To be deprecated. Use pMCtoC14 instead.

Radiocarbon Equations

return a random calendar age from a calibrated distribution

Calculate the weighted mean of C14 ages

The time span between two calibrated dates

The spread among calibrated dates

point.estimates

Calculate a point estimate

Find nearby shell-derived dR values

Calculate pMC ages from F14C values.

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

calculate cal BP ages from cal BC/AD ages

Calculate F14C values from C14 ages

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

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

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

Transform C14 age(s) into Delta14C

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

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

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

calculate b2k from cal BC/AD ages

Calculate C14 ages from F14C values.

Calculate pMC values from C14 ages

Transform F14C into Delta14C

Transform Delta14C into F14C

Transform Delta14C into C14 age

Calculate F14C values from C14 ages

To be deprecated. Calculate C14 ages from F14C values.

Transform Delta14C into pMC

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