The results generally place his death somewhere in the period approximately 300 to 550 years before the present, though the specific estimates vary depending on the material dated and the specific laboratory methods used.

The radiocarbon dating is complicated by several factors.

One is the marine reservoir effect — the same phenomenon that complicates the dating of coastal and marine-associated samples in other ancient DNA and archaeological contexts.

People who eat significant quantities of seafood incorporate carbon that is drawn from ocean water, which contains older dissolved carbon than the atmosphere does.

This makes their radiocarbon dates appear older than they actually are.

If Kwäday Dän Ts’ìnchi ate substantial amounts of marine food — which the isotopic evidence suggests he did — his radiocarbon date will be somewhat older than his actual date of death.