ANTH 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Radiocarbon Dating, Absolute Dating, Relative Dating
Document Summary
Life started 3. 5 billion years ago in the form of single celled organisms. A billion years later multicelled organisms appeared. Provide direct physical evidence to our past and various species. Can be used to help reconstruct our past. Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and plates shifts have transformed the face of the planet making it harder to tell the true story these fossils have to tell. Absolute dating is when we date the fossil itself. Radiocarbon dating tracks the half life of the carbon left with the fossil. Radiopotassium dating measures the amount of argon in volcanic rock and ash found today through the decay of potassium. Relative dating is when we date the context in which the fossil was found. Stratigraphy is a process that determines the ages of layers of sediment above and below a fossil. Genetic studies of mitochondrial dna reveal a most common ancestor .
