In this paper we describe briefly some characteristics of the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) technique and the need of corrections in the radiocarbon ages by specific calibration curves. Then we discuss previous results of some Brazilian projects where radiocarbon AMS had been applied in order to reevaluate the dates obtained on the basis of the new calibration curves available.

The accumulation and distribution of 40K and 137Cs in tropical plant species were studied through measurements of gamma-ray spectra from mango, avocado, guava, pomegranate, chili pepper, papaya and manioc trees. Our goal was to infer their differences in the uptake and translocation of ions to the aboveground plant parts and to establish the suitability of using radiocaesium as a tracer for the plant uptake of nutrients such as K+.

This paper discusses the chronology of prehistoric settlements of the central-south Brazilian coast. A charcoal sample from a coastal shellmound of Rio de Janeiro State was dated by 14C-AMS to 7; 860§ 80 years BP as part of an interdisciplinary project between physicists and archaeologists. This is an unexpected result that reinforces two similar previous early dates for the same region, which were questioned by Brazilian archaeologists because they implied in pulling back by some two thousand years the antiquity consensually accepted for the settlement of that region.