[microgood]

There will always be Carbon present in an organic sample, no matter how old. It is only the UNSTABLE Carbon atoms that decay. Now, after several million years, you won’t find much of any Carbon-14, as it has a half life of about 5700 years or so.

Thanks for the info. So that means if there are any Carbon-14 molecules in that remaining tissue then that would be a problem, but not the fact that Carbon-12 is there.

[Rebel_Ace]

"...So that means if there are any Carbon-14 molecules in that remaining tissue then that would be a problem, but not the fact that Carbon-12 is there..."

The presense of C-14 would mean 1 of two things:

The sample is not so old as to allow ALL the C-14 to decay

or

The sample is contaminated with C-14 from external, younger sources.