Radiocarbon Dating of Ancient Writing on Bones or Ivory?

Question

How do archaeologists know when the writing occurred on an old piece of ivory or bone.

Lets say the ivory is over 5,000 years old. Lets say somebody found the ivory 3,500 years ago and decided to write something on it.

Would the archaeologist date the writing to be as old as the ivory. Can they tell if the writing itself is younger than the material it is written on.

Answer 1

It is dated as "not being older than" the date of the ivory or bone. sometimes you can tell by the language used in the inscription. or by what it says; for example; "I carved this bone into a knife during the reign of king Hagar the Horrible" If we know from other sources that Hagar the horrible ruled Denmark from 810 to 860 C.E. but the bone is dated to 100 B.C.E  then we know that the writing was done on an old bone.

Answer 2

Matilda is right but you are correct in questioning the dating.  If the people found an old piece of ivory and they dated the ivory, it would give an older date.  Dating soil or "ink" is not too likely though possible I suppose.  They often date charcoal from particular layers.

Answer 3

C14 on the ink. Also, the age of dirt ground into the carving or indentations, also the style of the writing.