Chronometric dating method who is maya moore dating

07-Apr-2020 07:13

When we perform this test we get a specific date plus an error range.

So the date will be stated, as say, 1145 years old or - 50 years.

Tree rings are not simply counted, but rather, the patterns they make are compared to an established data base of tree ring patterns.

Tree ring sequences are species and geographically dependent.

Chronometry or numerical dating aims to provide age estimates in terms of years for archaeological and paleoanthropological events or processes.

Most of the methods currently applied with success are based on the physical phenomenon of radioactivity, which provides the clock.

However, if wood was recycled for subsequent building construction, the date we get will actually be earlier than the date the last building was constructed.

Many of these methods use what is referred to as a 'molecular clock'. The rate at which one element breaks down into another is referred to as the HALF LIFE of that element.

That is to say, a molecular process that happens at a regular and predictable rate. The half life is the time it takes for half of the sample to break down. So in a sample of C14, half of it will break down in 5,730 years.

The short half life of C14 allows us to use this method to date recent historic sites to sites that are 120,000 years old.

This means we can use this method on anatomically modern human sites and on Neanderthal sites (Neaderthals survive until almost 28 thousand years ago.). The half life of potassium, that is the time it takes half of a potassium sample to break down into argon gas, is 1.3 billion years. This method can be used to date sites that span our entire human evolution.

In the next several lectures we will see how these dating methods are applied to our evolution.