Partly burned (’charred’) wood, consisting mostly of carbon, sometimes found in situ as burned timbers of buildings and other structures or in hearths, but more frequently widely disseminated through the deposits of an archaeological site. Charcoal survives because catbon cannot be utilized by the organisms of decomposition, and it is the best material for radiocarbon dating. Fragments of reasonable size and preservation may be identified to the tree of origin.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied