Problems with Radiometric "Time": Dating the Initial Human Colonization of Sahul
Issue Date
1998-01-01Keywords
fluorimetryHomo erectus
Lesser Sunda Islands
Timor
colonization
Stone Age
Paleolithic
Tasmania Australia
Hominidae
HomoPrimatesanthropologytemporal distributionaccelerator mass spectraTheriaEutheriamass spectraspectraAustraliaMalay ArchipelagoNew GuineaMammaliaAustralasiaarchaeologyarchaeological sitesFar EastChordataTetrapodaVertebrataPleistoceneAsiaCenozoicQuaternaryC 14carbondatesisotopesradioactive isotopesabsolute age
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Webb, R. E. (1998). Problems with radiometric “time”: Dating the initial human colonization of Sahul. Radiocarbon, 40(2), 749-758.Journal
RadiocarbonDescription
From the 16th International Radiocarbon Conference held in Gronigen, Netherlands, June 16-20, 1997.Additional Links
http://radiocarbon.webhost.uits.arizona.edu/Abstract
Until recently, the only chronometric technique applied to Sahulian archaeological sites was 14C dating; the ages obtained rarely exceeded 40,000 BP. Belief that the region was first colonized around that time has recently been shaken by luminescence dates from several archaeological sites in northern Australia that suggest people arrived between 60,000 and 55,000 BP. The ensuing debate over their validity revealed that some participants misunderstood luminescence dating and the temporal limitations of 14C dating, illustrated here through a discussion of the tempo and mode of Sahulian colonization. Radiometric techniques cannot distinguish between the models proposed because they are unable to resolve temporal issues that occur within their limits of error.Type
Proceedingstext