Final answer:
Radiocarbon dating (14C) is used to determine the absolute age of carbon-bearing materials and is accurate up to about 50,000 years, with a carbon-14 half-life of 5730 years.
Step-by-step explanation:
Radiocarbon dating (14C), or carbon-14 dating, is a method for determining the absolute age of carbon-bearing materials and is accurate for substances up to about 30,000 years old. However, it can provide reasonably accurate dates up to a maximum of about 50,000 years old. The principle behind this technique is the half-life of carbon-14, which is 5730 years, meaning that the amount of carbon-14 is reduced by half every 5730 years. This dating technique is a crucial tool in archaeology, and it revolutionized parts of archaeology to such an extent that Willard Libby, its developer, was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1960.