Radiocarbon (14C) ages cannot provide absolutely dated chronologies for archaeological or paleoenvironmental studies directly but must be converted to calendar age equivalents using a calibration curve compensating for fluctuations in atmospheric14C concentration. Although calibration curves are constructed from independently dated archives, they invariably require revision as new data become available and our understanding of the Earth system improves. In this volume the international14C calibration curves for both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, as well as for the ocean surface layer, have been updated to include a wealth of new data and extended to 55,000 cal BP. Based on tree rings, IntCal20 now extends as a fully atmospheric record to ca. 13,900 cal BP. For the older part of the timescale, IntCal20 comprises statistically integrated evidence from floating tree-ring chronologies, lacustrine and marine sediments, speleothems, and corals. We utilized improved evaluation of the timescales and location variable14C offsets from the atmosphere (reservoir age, dead carbon fraction) for each dataset. New statistical methods have refined the structure of the calibration curves while maintaining a robust treatment of uncertainties in the14C ages, the calendar ages and other corrections. The inclusion of modeled marine reservoir ages derived from a three-dimensional ocean circulation model has allowed us to apply more appropriate reservoir corrections to the marine14C data rather than the previous use of constant regional offsets from the atmosphere. Here we provide an overview of the new and revised datasets and the associated methods used for the construction of the IntCal20 curve and explore potential regional offsets for tree-ring data. We discuss the main differences with respect to the previous calibration curve, IntCal13, and some of the implications for archaeology and geosciences ranging from the recent past to the time of the extinction of the Neanderthals.

中文翻译：

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IntCal20 北半球放射性碳年龄校准曲线 (0–55 cal kBP)

放射性碳 (14C) 年龄不能直接为考古或古环境研究提供绝对过时的年表，但必须使用补偿大气波动的校准曲线将其转换为日历年龄等值14C 浓度。虽然校准曲线是从独立日期的档案中构建的，但随着新数据的出现和我们对地球系统的理解的提高，它们总是需要进行修订。在本卷中，国际14北半球和南半球以及海洋表层的 C 校准曲线已更新，以包含大量新数据并扩展到 55,000 cal BP。基于树木年轮，IntCal20 现在作为一个完整的大气记录扩展到 ca。13,900 大卡 BP。对于时间尺度的较早部分，IntCal20 包含来自浮动树木年轮年表、湖泊和海洋沉积物、洞穴和珊瑚的统计综合证据。我们利用改进的时间尺度和位置变量评估14每个数据集的大气 C 偏移量（储层年龄、死碳分数）。新的统计方法改进了校准曲线的结构，同时保持了对不确定性的稳健处理14C年龄，日历年龄和其他更正。包含源自三维海洋环流模型的模拟海洋储层年龄，使我们能够对海洋应用更合适的储层修正14C 数据，而不是之前使用的恒定区域大气偏移量。在这里，我们概述了新的和修订的数据集以及用于构建 IntCal20 曲线的相关方法，并探索了树木年轮数据的潜在区域偏移量。我们讨论了与之前的校准曲线 IntCal13 的主要区别，以及从最近到尼安德特人灭绝时期对考古学和地球科学的一些影响。