agedated

Agedated is a term used in some scholarly and archival contexts to describe results that have been produced by explicit age-dating methods, or the process of determining an object's age using dating techniques. In practice, agedated indicates that an age assignment has been verified or calibrated through scientific dating, rather than inferred from context or typology alone. The form is a back-formation from age dating and is often encountered in niche literature; more common variants include age-dated and age dating.

Applications and scope: In archaeology, geology, paleontology, and archival science, agedated materials or data refer to specimens and records whose ages have been established by methods such as radiocarbon dating, uranium-series dating, dendrochronology, thermoluminescence, or potassium-argon dating. The term helps differentiate scientifically dated results from estimates or relative dating. It is most useful when communicating that the age is not approximate but obtained through established dating techniques, with associated uncertainties.

Usage considerations: Because agedated is not universally standardized, writers may prefer age-dated or age dating to avoid ambiguity. In interdisciplinary work, define the term at first use. Limitations of dating methods—contamination, calibration curves, sample preservation, and methodological constraints—affect the reliability of agedated ages and should be acknowledged in reporting.

See also: age dating, radiocarbon dating, dendrochronology, isotopic dating, archival dating.