AR101 Lecture 11: Archaeological Dating Methods

• School: WLU
• Department: Archaeology and Heritage Studies
• Course: AR101
• Professor: Bonnie Glencross

Document Summary

Index fossils & time markers: geochronology, seriation, sequence comparison, bone chemistry. Absolute methods (expensive: dendrochronology (tree rings, radiometric (radiocarbon, potassium-argon, etc. , trapped charge. Dating techniques are procedures used by scientists to determine the age of a specimen or past events. Ad: anno domini in the year of our lord . Relative dating methods tell only if one specimen is older or younger than another. Dates are expressed relative to one and another rather than in absolute terms e. g. earlier, later, more recent. Index fossil: strata containing similar fossil assemblages are of similar age. Time markers, artifacts shown to be diagnostic of a particular time period. The index fossil concept was introduced to archaeology by swede oscar montelius: he divided the european neolithic, bronze and iron ages into chronological subdivisions each with its own distinctive artifacts and artifact styles (time markers was swede) Relative dating time markers (north american example)