ANTH 002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Radioactive Decay, Radiocarbon Dating, Dendrochronology
10 Jun 2020
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Document Summary
Radiocarbon dating (c14 dating): used on organic remains only. Consistent ratio of 14c to 12c in atmosphere, living plants and animals. Plants have the same ratio of 14:12 carbon as the atmosphere. Upon death of plant or animal, the longer you are dead, the more 14c you lose it begins to decay at a predictable rate. Therefore by measuring the 14c, you can estimate age since death. So you can use this dating for lucy So in retrospect, we can only study us. Potassium-argon dating: looking mostly at volcanic rocks, not organic materials. When lava solidifies, no ar gas in rock, and as k decays, ar accumulates in the rocks. Measuring ratio of k/ar ca be used to date rock formation. Used on geographic strata associated with fossils. Ex: we can figure out the age of the footprints. Useful for much older fossils, this includes a lot of fossils in our family tree.
