The Age of the Calaveras Skull: Dating the “Piltdown Man” of the New World

1992 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Taylor ◽  
Louis A. Payen ◽  
Peter J. Slota
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
New World ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
Peabody Museum

The Calaveras skull, first reported in 1866, represents the earliest purported fossil human discovery in California and one of the earliest in the New World. The specimen is in the possession of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University. The validity of the original "Tertiary" age assignment was rejected by the first generation of professional American archaeologists early in the twentieth century. Radiocarbon analyses using both conventional decay counting and accelerator mass spectrometry indicate a late Holocene age for the Calaveras skull.

NEW AMS 14C DATES OF A MULTICULTURAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE FROM THE PALEO-DELTAIC REGION OF WEST BENGAL, INDIA: CULTURAL AND GEO-ARCHAEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

Radiocarbon ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Nabanita Naskar ◽  
Kaushik Gangopadhyay ◽  
Susanta Lahiri ◽  
Punarbasu Chaudhuri ◽  
Rajveer Sharma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
West Bengal ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Humid Tropics ◽  
Age Dating ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Absolute Age ◽  
Calendar Dates

ABSTRACT This study is on the absolute age dating of a multicultural site of Erenda, East Medinipur district, in coastal West Bengal, India. Charcoal samples were collected and measured using the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facility at the Inter-University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi, India. These samples were collected from secured stratigraphic context of two excavated trenches. A careful collection of samples from two trenches provided us with the first calendar dates, 950 BCE and 1979 BCE, of protohistoric sites in coastal West Bengal. These calibrated calendar dates not only have wider significance in terms of archaeology but also methodological implications to understand the relevance of application of AMS from the dynamic coastal landscape in the humid tropics during the late Holocene period.

Radiocarbon Variability in Crassostrea virginica Shells from the Chesapeake Bay, USA

Radiocarbon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 305-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torben C Rick ◽  
Gregory A Henkes
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Crassostrea Virginica ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Coastal Upwelling ◽  
Eastern Oyster ◽  
Eastern Pacific ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Growth Increments

Fifteen accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates obtained on small subsections of archaeological and historical Crassostrea virginica (eastern oyster) shells provide a means to test for intrashell variability in 14C content in late Holocene Chesapeake Bay mollusks. Although salinity and temperature vary considerably throughout the year, the Chesapeake Bay generally lacks the strong coastal upwelling present in the eastern Pacific where intrashell 14C variability is significant. Intrashell variability in Chesapeake Bay C. virginica is between ∼60–100 14C yr, considerably smaller than the 120–530 14C yr ranges noted for shells from strong upwelling zones. As a precaution, we follow Culleton et al. (2006) and argue that large subsamples of shells across multiple growth increments are ideal for AMS 14C dating of mollusks to offset potential issues of intrashell 14C variability.

Additional Evidence for Early Cucurbit Use in the Northern Eastern Woodlands East of the Allegheny Front

1997 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 523-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
John P. Hart ◽  
Nancy Asch Sidell
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Cucurbita Pepo ◽  
Full Range ◽  
North Central ◽  
Eastern Woodlands ◽  
Central Pennsylvania ◽  
Early Late ◽  
Ams Dates

Two accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates, 5404 ± 552 B.P. (AA-19129) and 2625 ± 45 B.P. (AA-19128), confirm the presence of mid-Holocene and early late Holocene cucurbit (Cucurbita pepo), respectively, at the Memorial Park site (36CN164) in north-central Pennsylvania. This is the second documented occurrence of mid-Holocene cucurbit and the first documented occurrence of domesticated early late Holocene cucurbit in the northern Eastern Woodlands east of the Allegheny Front. These occurrences help to establish the use of cucurbits in the Northeast on a timescale equivalent to that in the riverine interior, with the exception of the very earliest riverine interior dates. The Northeast has contributed little toward our understanding of prehistoric agricultural evolution in the Eastern Woodlands. The Memorial Park cucurbits and the mid-Holocene cucurbit recently reported at the Sharrow site in Maine indicate that greater efforts are needed to document pre-maize agricultural behavior in this area to increase our knowledge of the full range of pre-maize agricultural behavior in the Eastern Woodlands.

scholarly journals Hiatus in Prehistoric Chronology of the Cis-Baikal Region, Siberia: Pattern or Artifact?

Radiocarbon ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaroslav V Kuzmin
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Baikal Region ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Burial Grounds

The problem of a hiatus at about 6100–5300 BP (about 4900–4200 cal BC) in the prehistoric chronology of the Cis-Baikal region in Siberia is discussed. Based on a critical evaluation of existing evidence, there was no discontinuity found in the cultural sequence between the Kitoi and Serovo/Glazkovo complexes of the Neolithic, and the proposed “hiatus” may be an artifact based on underestimation of solid data. Conventional 14C dates are presented that were generated in the 1980s to early 2000s for Cis-Baikal prehistoric burial grounds, and were later dated by the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS).

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