Final answer:
Carbon-14 dating is used to estimate the age of organic materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years old, most accurate for samples not exceeding 50,000 years.
Step-by-step explanation:
Carbon-14 dating, also known as radiocarbon dating, is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radioactive carbon in the sample. The technique is capable of dating materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years old. Most accurate for biological tissues not older than 50,000 years, carbon-14 dating is a critical tool in archaeology for dating organic remains from archaeological sites. Its accuracy stems from the fact that living organisms maintain constant levels of Carbon-14 which ceases to be replenished after death, allowing scientists to measure the decline of the isotope and thus, determine the time since death. While Carbon-14 dating is potent for relatively recent remains, it becomes less precise for older samples due to diminishing levels of the isotope, and it is not applicable for samples which did not obtain Carbon-14 from the atmosphere, such as aquatic organisms.