One of its great advantages is that any sample provides two clocks, one based on uranium-235s decay to lead-207 with a half-life of about 700 million years, and one based on uranium-238s decay to lead-206 with a half-life of about 4.5 billion years, providing a built-in crosscheck that allows accurate determination

What are some advantages of carbon dating?

Over time, carbon-14 decays in predictable ways. And with the help of radiocarbon dating, researchers can use that decay as a kind of clock that allows them to peer into the past and determine absolute dates for everything from wood to food, pollen, poop, and even dead animals and humans.

What are the advantages of using radiometric dating vs relative dating?

When the radioactive date contradicts the relative age as determined by the fossils the fossil date is always considered to be the better value. No geologist uses radioactive dating to do more than confirm dates established by the fossils using Darwins theory of descent with modification.