Because of well - known problems in calibrating dates from 3,500 years ago, he knew the lab would be unable to pin down
the exact calendar age of the samples, but the uncalibrated measured age of the cattle bones closely matched the latest equivalent dates for the cataclysm on Thera.
One can think of there being a nonlinear but
exact functional calibration curve relationship s14C = c (ti) between
calendar year ti and a «standard» 14C
age s14C, but with — for each
calendar year — the actual (true, not measured) 14C
age t14C having a slightly indeterminate relationship with ti.