Flashcards on Scientific Dating Methods in Archaeology
Scientific Dating Methods in Archaeology for Students
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Scientific dating methods in archaeology - Regional Applications
61 cards
Card 1
Question: Why are dating methods central to African archaeology?
Answer: Because Africa has the longest continuous record of human occupation spanning from historical times to human evolution, requiring a range of analytica
Card 2
Question: Which dating technique is described as the most important and widely used in African archaeology?
Answer: Radiocarbon dating.
Card 3
Question: What types of materials is radiocarbon dating applicable to?
Answer: A broad class of organic (previously living) materials.
Card 4
Question: Over what temporal scales is radiocarbon dating relevant in archaeology?
Answer: Much of modern human history and prehistory, spanning several thousand to tens of thousands of years relevant to humans.
Card 5
Question: What historical contribution did the Pretoria radiocarbon laboratory make?
Answer: Established in 1969, it was one of the oldest high-precision radiocarbon labs and helped improve the technique and establish chronological frameworks
Card 6
Question: What problem has arisen with radiocarbon dating since the turn of the 21st century?
Answer: The method has been so easily applied that there is abundant scope for misapplication, often with minimal oversight by radiocarbon or chronology speci
Card 7
Question: What can help maximize the utility of radiocarbon dating methods despite risks of misapplication?
Answer: Numerous excellent published guides for archaeologists and ecologists.
Card 8
Question: How is the field of dating methods characterized in terms of research and collaboration?
Answer: It is an active area of research, technical, and often a collaboration between applied physicists and chemists (who refine pretreatment and measuremen
Card 9
Question: What does the provided figure (figure 1) illustrate about dating techniques in African archaeology?
Answer: It shows the age range of dating techniques used in African archaeology and notes some methods as developmental (indicated by an asterisk).
Card 10
Question: Which region in Africa currently hosts the only facility on the continent capable of making radiocarbon AMS measurements?
Answer: South Africa.