The Cleveland Museum of Art

• Full conservation statement
  As part of a project to identify and date textiles from the Chimú culture—a peoples located on the north coast of present-day Peru between 1200 and 1460—several Chimú textiles in Cleveland’s collection were radiocarbon dated. Also known as carbon 14 or 14C dating, radiocarbon dating is a method of determining a date range for the creation of organic materials such as this cotton textile. That is why on the collections online record for this object, the date field indicates that this object has been radiocarbon dated. We also include the degree of probability for the date range listed. With radiocarbon dating, what is being measured is how much less 14C is in a particular sample than would be found in a similar modern material. The radiocarbon dating method is based on the fact that plant and animal tissue levels of 14C remain relatively constant during life but taper off at a predictable rate in surviving remains. Traces of radiocarbon typically can be detected in organic remains up to 50,000 years old. With currently available equipment, only a very small sample is needed for radiocarbon dating—between 20 and 50 mg.
• Exhibition History
  Treasures of Peruvian Gold. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 23-April 3, 1966).

  The John Wise Collection: Arts of the Pre-Inca Period. The Wilmington Society of Fine Arts, Wilmington, DE (March 5–25, 1942).
• Cite this Page
  {{cite web|title=Large Cloth|url=false|author=|year=1460–1632 (radiocarbon date, 95% probability)|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}