Precision of 14C dating in Gliwice Radiocarbon Laboratory. FIRI programme

In this paper the precision and accuracy of radiocarbon dating in Gliwice Radiocarbon Laboratory on the background of intercomparision programs is discussed. Here are briefly presented results of individual comparisons between laboratories from eight countries and three international intercomparison programmes: ISC Programme (1986), TIRI Programme (1994) and FIRI Programme (1999). Moreover the short description of Gliwice Radiocarbon Laboratory is presented. The main stress is laid on the description of FIRI Programme – types of samples included in Programme and methods of calculation of consensus values, but first of all the participation of our Laboratory in the programme is presented: pretreatment procedures of samples, results obtained in Gliwice and statistical analysis of these results. The most important conclusion, which may be drawn from this paper, is that Gliwice Radiocarbon Laboratory dating results are not biased by systematic error.