SECOND HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT Absolute and Relative Dating Methods

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1 Tulane University Chris Rodning NAME INTRODUCTION TO ARCHAEOLOGY ANTH 334 F2008 SCORE of 40 points SECOND HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT Absolute and Relative Dating Methods Answer the following questions about dating archaeological deposits and artifacts. This assignment was handed out in class on 10/1/08. (It is also available in the Assignments section on Blackboard.) Please complete this assignment and have it ready to hand in at the beginning of class on 10/8/08. Discussions of dating techniques in archaeology can be found in chapters 8 and 9 of the course textbook. list of relative dating techniques list of absolute dating techniques index fossils index fossils potassium-argon stratigraphy dendrochronology argon-argon seriation radiocarbon obsidian hydration archaeomagnetism fluoride dating thermoluminescence You are excavating an archaeological site, located in an arid environment in New Mexico, and the Anasazi pueblos at this site probably date sometime between AD 1000 and AD You are interested in finding out which rooms were built early in the history of this settlement, and you are also interested in finding out the sequence in which other rooms were built. These rooms are built of stone, with roofs made out of logs. You find deposits of pottery in rooms that seem to have been dumped in rooms when those rooms were abandoned. Pottery can be dated with some degree of confidence based on stratigraphic evidence of stylistic change in pottery from other nearby sites in this region. (There is a map of this site on the following page.) (This is a map of an actual site, Pot Creek Pueblo, located in Taos, New Mexico, and excavated by Michael Adler and other archaeologists at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.) 1. What is the most precise dating technique to help you determine the dates when different rooms were built (1 point)? 2. What is the dated event in this case (2 points)? 3. What is the target event in this case (2 points)? 4. What other absolute dating technique would help give you an independent check on the general accuracy of other chronological indicators (1 point)? 5. How could you propose dates for the abandonment of different rooms (3 points)? 6. Would your proposed timing of room abandonment give you terminus post quem or terminus ante quem dates for the abandonment of specific rooms (2 points)?

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3 3 You are excavating an archaeological site in Mesoamerica. Hieroglyphs at this site indicate that it was occupied from roughly 400 B.C. to A.D Caches of obsidian daggers (which may have been weapons used in combat and in ritual events) are present in several different areas of the site. 7. What dating method could help you determine which caches of these obsidian artifacts date to earlier or later periods during the history of settlement at this site (1 point)? 8. Is this an absolute or relative dating technique (1 point)? You are conducting pedestrian surveys to look for prehistoric Native American settlements located in alluvial floodplains in the Mississippi River Valley in Missouri. Your surface surveys are recovering stone tools and stone tool debris at some sites, but the most abundant form of artifact found at these sites are pieces of clay pottery. Visible on these pieces of pottery are traces of decorations on inner and outer surfaces, and some clues about the characteristics of the shape and size of the pots themselves. At most sites these artifacts are found on the ground surface or in deposits of alluvial sediment that have been disturbed by plowing and other recent earthmoving activities. There are therefore no stratigraphic data from the sites found during your survey that give any clear indications about the dates of these artifacts or the sites themselves. 9. What absolute dating technique might help you determine the dates of different sites found during your survey (1 point)? 10. What relative dating technique might help you determine the dates of different sites found during your survey (1 point)? You are excavating sites in Olduvai Gorge in Africa to recover fossils of our early human ancestors and evidence about the use of stone tools by early humans. 11. What absolute dating technique or techniques would help you in your effort to date the geological layers in which fossils and artifacts are found (2 points)? 12. What is actually dated in this method, what is the target event, and how can you relate the dates you get with the artifacts and fossils you are interested in dating (3 points)?

4 ABSOLUTE DATES 4 For the homework assignment, please fill in the age range and datable materials columns. Use the notes column to write down any additional notes that you would like for your own study purposes. (10 points) METHOD AGE RANGE DATABLE MATERIAL(S) NOTES index fossils AMS C14 dendrochonology archaeomagnetism thermoluminescence OSL OCR potassium-argon argon-argon

5 RELATIVE DATES 5 For the homework assignment, please fill in the age range and datable materials columns. Use the notes column to write down any additional notes that you would like for your own study purposes. (10 points) METHOD AGE RANGE DATABLE MATERIAL(S) NOTES index fossils stratigraphy seriation obsidian hydration fluoride dating