Radiocarbon dating relies on the assumption that organic or inorganic materials were in equilibrium with the production of 14C in the atmosphere (Jull, 2018), and that the 14C in the organism will decay, converting 14C back to 14N through beta decay, following the death of the organism.

What are the assumptions of carbon dating?

One assumption is that the global levels of carbon 14 (also called radiocarbon) in the atmosphere has not changed over time. The other assumption is the corollary of the first; the biosphere has the same overall concentration of radiocarbon as the atmosphere due to equilibrium.