Radiocarbon Dating Blood Residues on Prehistoric Stone Tools

Abstract

We report here the first radiocarbon dating of blood residues on prehistoric stone tools. The residues found on two stone artifacts were subjected to various exploratory biochemical techniques to identify the species from which they were derived and to separate a suitable sample for dating by accelerator mass spectrometry. Although these techniques need much further development and detailed testing, the ages obtained in this first study were consistent with other data, indicating that the concept is viable. For the first time, the time of use of stone tools has been found directly, rather than by stratigraphic or other archaeologic inferential techniques.