Example: Historians can know when the Jewish Temple was destroyed, when certain Pharaohs reigned, when the Gallic wars occurred, etc.
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I have yet to see radio Carbon dating mentioned. It’s widely used and is more common than traditional dating through the use of references is Radio carbon dating. This tequnique is very precise, and works by comparing the ratios of Carbon-14 to Carbon-12 (and less so Carbon-13). although is limited to things that lived less than 50,000 years ago. If anything was alive at some point (e.g. the fibers used to make papyrus that writing is on) it took in co2, some of which had radioactive Carbon-14 in it. Carbon-14 is made at a very steady rate in the atmosphere by cosmic rays transmuting Nitrogen. Once the organism dies the Carbon-14 starts to slowly decay. And since we know the initial C-12/C-14 ratio and the half life of Carbon-14 (~5000 years if I remember correctly), we can calculate to impressive precision what time period the paper or leather or wood, or any other once living piece of history.
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