Scientific Dating in Archaeology.pdf

September, 19, 2008 Scientific Dating in Archaeology Tsuneto Nagatomo Nara University of Education 1. Age Determination in Archaeology Relative Age: stratigraphy, typology Absolute Age: historical data Age Determination by (natural) Scientific Methods numerical age (chronometric age) relative age 2. Age Determination by Scientific Methods 2-1. Numerical Methods Radiometric Methods Radioactive Isotope: radiocarbon, potassium-argon, argon-argon, uranium series Radiation Damage: fission track, luminescence, electron spin resonance Non-Radiometric Methods Chemical Change: amino acid, obsidian hydration 2-2. Relative Methods archaeomagnetism and paleomagnetism, dendrochronology, fluorite 3. Radiometric Methods 3-1.Radioactive Isotopes The dating clock is directly provided by radioactive decay: e.g., radiocarbon, potassium-argon and uranium-series. The number of a nuclide (N ) at a certain time t decreases by decaying into its t daughter nuclide. The number of a nuclide (dN) which decay in a short time (dt) is proportional to the total number of the nuclide at time t (N ): t d N /dt = -N (1) t t where : decay constant. Then, N is derived from (1) as t N = N exp(-0.693t/T ) (2) t 0