Use carbon-14 to date the bones. When a living organism dies, it stops producing carbon-14. From this point on, the carbon-14 present in the organism decays. Conversely, the carbon-12 in the organism stays consistent over time. By comparing the decay of carbon-14 to the lack of decay in the carbon-12, a scientist can accurately date most bones.
Date the sedimentary rock where the bones are found. Carbon-14 dating does not work on certain types of organic material over 20 million years old. For this reason, when dating dinosaur bones or other ancient organic material, it is best to focus on where the bones are found. Instead, scientists will use uranium-235 and potassium-40 to date the nearby rock, which in turn dates the bones in that same area.
Use fluorine analysis to date bones found in the same area. Fluorine analysis is the study of fluorine in groundwater, which replaces the calcium in buried bones. If two sets of bones buried in the same area have differing amounts of fluorine, then it is unlikely that these two sets were buried at the same time. This process helped expose the Piltdown Man hoax in 1949, which is an example of the self-correcting process of the scientific method.