[null and void]

"The dating of a feature from charcoal is problematic since the wood that was being burned may have been felled a long time before it was used.

Huh?

[Reily]

Weird statement, because I am sure the wood was cut well within the error of carbon dating.

[SunkenCiv]

That’s confusing wording, imho. If the charcoal is from the core of the log, it’s going to be years, decades, or even centuries older than the newest ring and the bark. Cut down the tree, cut it up into firewood, and the same hearth can seem to show that some group kept building fires in the same spot for years, decades, or centuries.