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cal year

English translation: Calibrated years before present (cal years B.P.)

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:cal years
Selected answer:Calibrated years before present (cal years B.P.)
Entered by: lorenab23

18:53 Feb 18, 2010
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Science - Geography / Rivers and floodplains
English term or phrase: cal year
Is this an abbreviation for "calendar", and if so, what is the difference between a calendar year and other kinds?
"Ice-free conditions in Novaya Zemlya 35 000-30 000 cal years B.P., as indicated by radiocarbon ages and amino acid racemization evidence from marine ..."
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 01:54
Calibrated year before present (cal year B.P.)
Explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boreal_(period)

Hope it helps and good luck!
Selected response from:

lorenab23
United States
Local time: 16:54
Grading comment
What an oddball way to abbreviate something... Thanks all :)
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +6Calibrated year before present (cal year B.P.)
lorenab23
4 +3calibrated or calendar years
Jennifer Levey
Summary of reference entries provided
relevant to "radio carbon age"
Stephanie Ezrol

  

Answers


9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
calibrated or calendar years


Explanation:
FAQ: What does cal BP mean? - [ Traducir esta página ]
9 Jul 2008 ... "cal BP" stands for "calibrated years before the present" and what that means essentially is that archaeologists have discovered wiggles in ...
archaeology.about.com/.../faq-what-does-cal-bp-mean.htm - En caché - SimilaresC14Info - Calibration - [ Traducir esta página ]
These values should correspond exactly to normal historical years BC and AD. The term cal BP means the number of years before 1950 and can be directly ...
c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/calibration.html - En caché - SimilaresBefore Present - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - [ Traducir esta página ]
The ages are expressed in years before present (BP) where "present" is defined ... as cal BP, where "cal" indicates "calendar years" or "calibrated years". ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Present - En caché - Similares

Jennifer Levey
Chile
Local time: 19:54
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Sabine Akabayov, PhD
3 mins
agree  eesegura
3 mins
agree  ContextGlobal: It is probably calender years, but it depends on the context
1 day 20 hrs
neutral  Jim Tucker (X): Yes, but it's only "calibrated"; one sees "cal years BP" and "uncal years BP"
2 days 19 hrs
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20 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +6
Calibrated year before present (cal year B.P.)


Explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boreal_(period)

Hope it helps and good luck!

lorenab23
United States
Local time: 16:54
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
What an oddball way to abbreviate something... Thanks all :)

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Stephanie Ezrol
8 mins
  -> Thank you Stephanie!
agree  Richard McDorman: In this context, it definitely means "calibrated" and not "calendar."
58 mins
  -> Thank you, thank you Richard!
agree  Maria Fokin
1 hr
  -> Thank you Maria :-)
agree  Jim Tucker (X)
1 hr
  -> Thank you Jim :-)
agree  Shera Lyn Parpia
1 hr
  -> Thank you Shera Lyn :-)
agree  kmtext
11 hrs
  -> Thank you :-)
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Reference comments


28 mins
Reference: relevant to "radio carbon age"

Reference information:
The following is from Wikipedia which I think is relevant to your text. Wikipedia does make mistakes, and the phrase at the end contradicts their explanation, but I think it is still useful.

And their footnotes can take you to more original sources if you want to look at them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Present


Radiocarbon calibration
Further information: Radiocarbon dating#Calibration

"Dates determined using radiocarbon dating come in two kinds: uncalibrated (also called Libby or raw) and calibrated (also called Cambridge) dates.[12]

Uncalibrated radiocarbon dates may be expressed using BP years; however, they are not identical to calendar dates. This has to do with the fact that the level of atmospheric radiocarbon (carbon-14 or 14C) has not been strictly constant during the span of time that can be radiocarbon-dated.

Uncalibrated radiocarbon ages can be converted to calendar dates by means of calibration curves based on comparison of raw radiocarbon dates of samples independently dated by other methods, such as dendrochronology (dating on basis of tree growth-rings) and stratigraphy (dating on the basis of sediment layers in mud or sedimentary rock).

Such calibrated dates are expressed as cal BP."

The following from Wikipedia contradicts what they say above:

", where "cal" indicates "calendar years" or "calibrated years"."

Stephanie Ezrol
United States
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
neutral  Maria Fokin: how is it contradictory? uncalibrated ages are calibrated in order to make them equivalent in length to calendar years. threfore, calibrated = calendar. what the abreviation stands for is another matter. (IMXO cal=calibrated)
1 hr
  -> Perhaps they are being more subtle than my first reading. I read cal indicates to mean that cal can be an abbreviation for either.
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