This collection contains sample records and supporting documentation, chromatographs, lab notebooks, master lists, equipment operating manuals, procedural documents, correspondence, financial documents, floppy disks, computer print outs and other material documenting the daily operations of the UCR Radiocarbon Lab. In addition, the collection contains records of the scholarly activities of lab Director and Professor of Anthropology, Erv Taylor. This includes teaching and research materials, publications, a Ph.D. dissertation and curriculum vitae. The collection also contains records of the Archaeometry Laboratory and Preservation Science and Technology Unit, which were intermingled with a later accural of the Radiocarbon Lab records.

The UCR Radiocarbon Laboratory was founded in 1973 by Professor R. Ervin (Erv) Taylor (b. 1938). It operated in the Department of Anthropology and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics. Under Taylor's supervision, laboratory staff were responsible for dating thousands of specimens sent by various universities and cultural heritage organizations from all over the world. The lab was built between 1970 and 1973. Lab staff began processing samples in November of 1972. The CO2 counting system used to date samples was modeled on concepts developed at the UCLA and New Zealand's Institute of Nuclear Science Laboratories. The UCR Radiocarbon Lab closed in 2006 after more than thirty years of operation.

57.8 linear feet (39 boxes)

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This collection is open for research.