DATING METHODS

Impor tance of str atig r aphy: main principles of super position and cutting

Typolog y of Coke cans

Seriation of Coke cans

Typolog y of Nintendo

Seriation and Flinder sPetrie

Cr oss-dating of ar tefacts

Pr ehistoric potter y

Deepl y str atified tell at Jericho

Historical dates: Mesopotamia

Pyr amid of Khufu at Giza

Radiocarbon r evolution
Willard Libby Invented 1949 Nobel Prize 1 950 = Present BP Calibration Standard Deviation AMS

Radiocarbon atoms

Radiocarbon absor ption

Incor por ation

14C combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide

Carbon 14 decay
Half life ~ 5740 years

1 4

1 4

concentration

time

Incor por ation 2

Calibr ation and conventions

Detecting C-14

younger

C-14 limitations
21st century 19th century

age

older

20th century

C-14 dates were used to cross-date and correlate events previously dated using ancient calendars and astronomical dates C-14 was called into question it was discovered that a radiocarbon year does not match with a calendar year

Calibr ation
calibration was needed as a radiocarbon year does not match a calendar year dendrochronology was used to calibrate radiocarbon years with calendar years checkingC14 dates with known-date tree rings that physically grew in a particular year

Checking the method

Libby wanted to check on the method before applying it on historical materials Libby chose material of Egyptian archaeology
He assumed that no other historical material from over 2,000 years ago is so secure as to its absolute dating

objects of the Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom of Egypt yielded carbon dates that appeared roughly comparable with the historical dates

C-14: Sample size

only about one 14 C atom per trillion initial sample required: grams small samples detected by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) AMS less destructive

T her moluminescence (TL)

TL: r ange and accur acy

with samples up to 3000 years old the method compares favourably in accuracy with C-14 dating it is less accurate with progressively older samples it is applicable back over half a million years well worth using despite the complications and limitations

DENDROCHRONOLOGY

Bog Oak in Ir eland

Dendr o samples

Dendr o ideal sample with outer bar k: see Newpor t Boat

Floating chr onologies

Building a master series

 a master sequence for the same species of wood and the same region must exist, dating back from some fixed point
several floating chronologies have been established:
a sequence cannot be firmly tied in to a fixed point in time
e.g. classical Greece

Dendr ochr onolog y: Pr oblems

precise dendrochronological date requires:

outer sapwood layers of the tree must be present
these are the final rings laid down prior to felling

reuse
most timber has been reused at some stage date of felling may not have been the same as the context in which it is found

Potassium (K)
potassium has one unstable and two stable isotopes potassium is the constituent of the most common minerals in igneous (volcanic) rocks

Potassium-Ar gon Dating

K/Ar sediment sand wich

Potassium-Ar gon dating (K-Ar)

based on the decay of radioactive potassium: 40K indispensable to geologists potassium has a very long half-life daughter product is argon: 40Ar

Ar gon (Ar)
a rare gas trapped in the crystal lattices when potassium decays to argon in rocks cooling from magma gases are freed, and the newly solid rock is theoretically devoid of argon this sets a radiometric clock since the time of cooling

Obsidian Hydr ation Dating

Brief Chr onolog y of the Wor ld