1、Archaeological Dating Methods,Relative Absolute,Relative Dating,Geologic Time Stratigraphic Correlation Biostratigraphy Example: Life in the Pleistocene Seriation Dendrochronology,Composite Geologic Section,Geologic Time: Calculating Metaphors,Stratigraphic Correlation,Following criteria help establ
2、ish stratigraphic correlation within a region and between different regions. Order of Superposition Palaeontology Geophysics Structural Geology Petrography,Order of Superposition,Under normal conditions, rocks laid down on Earths surface - sedimentary or volcanic - generally lie flat horizontal and
3、younger rocks are laid on top of older ones. Therefore in successions with simple structures order of superposition determines the relative ages of successive layers. The top layer in such cases is younger than the bottom layer. However, in successions that have experienced severe deformation , a pa
4、rt of the succession under study may actually be an inverted sequence. Therefore, order of superposition cannot be used to assign relative ages in areas of complex structure.,Palaeontology,Despite advances in geochronology and geophysics, palaeontology remains a popular tool in stratigraphy. Therefo
5、re life forms that existed once during some geological time period evolve, but do not repeat themselves. Fossil groups are therefore characteristically associated with geological time units. Some groups may have existed during longer time periods than others. Some fossil groups have externally restr
6、icted time period of occurrence. Such fossils, if found to occur fairly commonly in rocks, are known as index fossils as they indicate the age of rock/soil formations much more accurately than others.,Example: Pleistocene,Ice Age,Example: Pleistocene,Extinct Animals,Sabertooth Tiger,Pleistocene,Mast
7、odon,Example: Pleistocene,Extinct Animals,Giant Beaver,Giant beaver Modern Black Bear,Other Pleistocene Mammals,Wooly Rhino,Irish Elk,Example: Pleistocene,Human Species (1.8m ya-10,000 ya) Homo antecessor (800,000 ya) Homo heidelbergensis (780,000 ya) Homo neanderthalensis (200,000-32,000 ya) Homo s
8、apiens (200-150,000 ya),Hunting Large Mammals,Seriation,a relative dating technique based on the chronological ordering of a group of artifacts or assemblages, where the most similar are placed adjacent to each other in the series. Two types of seriation can be recognized, frequency seriation and co
9、ntextual seriation. frequency seriation: a relative dating method which relies principally on measuring changes in the proportional abundance, or frequency, observed among finds (e.g. counts of tool types, or of ceramic fabrics). contextual: a method of relative dating pioneered by Flinders Petrie i
10、n the 19th century, in which artifacts are arranged according to the frequencies of their co-occurrence in specific contexts (usually burials).,Frequency Seriation Exercise,The frequency of bottle type C increases gradually to a peak of 75 percent in the middle of the time sequence, and then gradual
11、ly declines in frequency as bottle type D increases in frequency (http:/ Seriation,Richard MacNeish used seriation to trace the ancient development of pottery styles in the Tehuacn Valley of Mexico. This shows a sequence of pottery styles from about 2850 BC to about AD 1500 (http:/ Seriation,Tombsto
12、nes design changes through time.,1872,Relative Dating of Building I at Monticello,http:/www.monticello.org/archaeology/research/mulberryrow/building-l.html,Dendrochronology Method,Find a tree w/ known date of cutting Define sets of distinctive ring patterns for series of years (slow, fast growth) be
13、st to record 1 set per tree Match same patterns in rings of older trees Count backwards across yearly rings from known-date to matched, overlapping series in older trees Build regional “master chronology“ U.S. SW (pine), NW Europe (oak),Dendrochronology,Dendrochronology and Cross-Dating, 2002 by Hen
14、ri D. Grissino-Mayer.,Absolute Dating,Historic Carbon-14 Potassium-Argon Fission Track Obsidian Hydration Luminescence Magnetism,Historical Dating,Prehistorians sometimes overestimate the accuracy and detail of frameworks based on historical evidence; in practice, early written sources may provide l
15、ittle more information than a scatter of radiocarbon dates. E.G. If a context containing burnt debris and broken artifacts is excavated on a site from a historical period, it is tempting to search the local historical framework for references to warfare or a disaster in the region, and to date the e
16、xcavated context accordingly.,Absolute Techniques,Radiocarbon dating-Carbon 14 and AMS-decay of carbon in organic materials. Potassium-argon (40K/40Ar)-decay of potassium into argon in volcanic materials. Fission-track dating-microscopic tracks in glassy material. Obsidian Hydration-hydration rim fo
17、rms when stone tools are made from obsidian. Luminescence dating-heating of crystalline material. Magnetism-variation in the earths magnetic pole.,Radiocarbon dating,Carbon 14- one peaceful by-product of accelerated wartime research into atomic physics and radioactivity in the 1940s. The rate of dec
18、ay of 14C, which has a half-life of 5730 (40) years, is long enough to allow samples of carbon as old as 45,000 years. Samples containing 300 milligrams to 4 grams final carbon AMS- Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, measures on the atomic level so can go to 70,000 years.,How does Carbon-14 dating work?
19、,Cosmic rays from the sun strike Nitrogen 14 atoms in the atmosphere and cause them to turn into radioactive Carbon 14, which combines with oxygen to form radioactive carbon dioxide. Living things are in equilibrium with the atmosphere, and the radioactive carbon dioxide is absorbed and used by plan
20、ts. The radioactive carbon dioxide gets into the food chain and the carbon cycle. All living things contain a constant ratio of Carbon 14 to Carbon 12. (1 in a trillion). At death, Carbon 14 exchange ceases and any Carbon 14 in the tissues of the organism begins to decay to Nitrogen 14, and is not r
21、eplenished by new C-14. The change in the Carbon 14 to Carbon 12 ratio is the basis for dating. Assumes that the rate of Carbon 14 production (and hence the amount of cosmic rays striking the Earth) has been constant (through the past 70,000 years).,The Curve of Knowns,Curve developed from dating kn
22、ow samples with radiocarbon,Accelerator Mass Spectrometry,Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is a mass spectrometric method for quantifying extremely low concentrations of long-lived radioisotopes, such as the commonly used biochemical tracer 14C. AMS can measure attomoles of radiocarbon with a pre
23、cision of better than 10%. This corresponds to the need for less than 0.1DPM-equivalent of labeled agent per gram of biological sample. AMS has use when sample is limiting, specific activity is very low, when the level of isotope that can be used is very limited (humans studies) and when trying to s
24、tudy events that occur with very low frequency or at very low concentration. AMS ANALYSIS for smaller samples (100 micrograms to 300 milligrams of final carbon.,Accelerator Mass Spectrometry,Wide angle view of the Centers FN tandem accelerator and mass spectrometerhttp:/cams.llnl.gov/cams_intro.html
25、,What C-14 and AMS date,Potassium-argon (40K/40Ar),K is an element that goes into many minerals, like feldspars and biotite. Ar, which is a noble gas, does not go into minerals when they first crystallize from a magma because Ar does not bond with any other atom. When a K-bearing mineral crystallize
26、s from a magma it will contain K, but will not contain Ar. With passage of time, the 40K decays to 40Ar, but the 40Ar is now trapped in the crystal structure where the 40K once was. Thus, by measuring the amount of 40K and 40Ar now present in the mineral, we can determine how many half lives have pa
27、ssed since the igneous rock crystallized, and thus know the absolute age of the rock. Ideal for dating early hominid fossils in East Africa. They occur in an area that was volcanically active when the fossils were deposited between one and five million years ago.,How K-Ar works:,Fission Track,Charge
28、d particles from radioactive decay leave trails of damage called FISSION TRACKS. These trails are due to the spontaneous fission of uranium. Useful in dating: Micas (up to 50,000 tracks per cm squared) Tektites Natural and synthetic (manmade) glass The number of tracks per unit area is a function of
29、 age and uranium concentration.,Spontaneous Fission Tracks,Obsidian hydration dating,Obsidian was a popular alternative to flint for making flaked tools in many parts of the world. As soon as a fresh surface of obsidian is exposed, during the process of making it into a tool, a microscopically thin
30、hydration rim begins to form as a result of the absorption of water. http:/id-archserve.ucsb.edu/Anth3/Courseware/Chronology/Movies/Hydration_Basics.html,Luminescence Dating,The physical phenomenon of luminescence may be used to date artifacts that were made from (or include) crystalline minerals wh
31、ich have been subjected to strong heating. The first successful application was to clay fired to make pottery, but it is commonly used now for dating flint tools that have been burnt, for example by being dropped accidentally into a fire. It dates items between the years 300-10,000 B.P.,Thermolumine
32、scence,To test the date, three steps are taken: 1. Measure samples intensity of luminescence. 2. Relate luminescence intensity to radiation dose irradiate sample with a calibrated radioactive source. 3. Determine the dose per year that the sample has been exposed to. The formula used in this equatio
33、n is: Age=accumulated dose _ dose rateDose Rate=dose accumulated each year,http:/www.users.globalnet.co.uk/qtls/tltech.htm,Archaeomagnetic dating,The position of magnetic North wanders around the North Pole, and even reverses completely to the South Pole for extended periods on a geological time-sca
34、le. From any reference point its position is measurable in terms of two components: movement up or down (inclination or dip) and from side to side (declination). The earths magnetic field is indeed dynamic and does shift. At present the declination for London changes by approximately 1 degree every
35、decade.,How does it work?,Magnetic information is recorded in iron elements in baked clay which have kept their position on cooling from the last firing of the clay. This means that baked clay, used for thousands of years in the construction of hearths, ovens and kilns, contains a weak but permanent
36、 magnetization which can be measured to determine the magnetic intensity and declination at the time of its last cooling. Before clay is baked these properties are orientated in random directions. If the temperature is raised to over several hundred degrees Celsius, the thermal agitation of the crys
37、tals allows some of the domains to be aligned by the earths magnetic field. When the clay cools their directions remain fixed, and there is a weak permanent magnetization in the same direction as the earths field.,Archaeomagnetic Example,Roman fort at Chester-le-Street in County Durham (GB). The nor
38、th wall of the officers quarters was burnt during construction and it was decided to remove a few stones from the wall for archaeomagnetic dating. Prior to lifting, bubble levels were glued in place to permit their exact re-orientation in the laboratory (archaeomagnetic dating depends upon the known drift of magnetic north, which is fixed when an object is heated above a certain temperature).,
