Beyond the radiocarbon limit in Australian archaeology and Quaternary research

Chappell, John; Head, John; Magee, John

doi:10.1017/s0003598x00083708

Cited by 80 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…An age for the bulk untreated wood of 23.3 ka BP had been obtained by liquid scintillation counting, and ages as young as 11.1 ka BP had been obtained for specific chemical fractions (Table 2; see also Head 1979 andChappell et al 1996). This sample was from a Kauri stump within humic-rich dark brown sand.…”

Section: Relative Efficacy Of Aba-sc Abox-sc and Ce-sc Procedures Fomentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiocarbon Dating of Wood Using Different Pretreatment Procedures: Application to the Chronology of Rotoehu Ash, New Zealand

et al. 2001

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ABSTRACT. We compare radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) ages of wood samples subjected to a conventional acid-base-acid pretreatment with stepped combustion (ABA-SC) with results from the same samples subjected to an acid-base-wet oxidation pretreatment with stepped combustion (ABOX-SC) and cellulose extraction with stepped combustion (CE-SC). The ABOX-SC procedure has been shown previously to lead to lower backgrounds for old charcoal samples. Analyses of relatively uncontaminated " 14 C-dead" samples of wood suggest that backgrounds of 0.11 ± 0.04 pMC are obtainable for both the ABOX-SC and ABA-SC procedures. Where wood is significantly contaminated the ABOX-SC technique provides significantly better decontamination than either the ABA-SC technique or cellulose extraction alone, although CE-SC can produce comparably low backgrounds to the ABOX-SC procedure.We also report the application of the ABOX-SC, ABA-SC and CE-SC procedures to wood samples associated with the chronologically controversial Rotoehu Ash eruption, New Zealand. New 14 C-AMS dates from wood sampled from below the Rotoehu Ash span an age range of 43-50 ka BP consistent with recently presented OSL dates of 42-44 ka obtained for palaeosols beneath the ash.

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Section: Relative Efficacy Of Aba-sc Abox-sc and Ce-sc Procedures Fomentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiocarbon Dating of Wood Using Different Pretreatment Procedures: Application to the Chronology of Rotoehu Ash, New Zealand

et al. 2001

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“…One of the drawbacks of 14 C dating, however, is the 'glass ceiling' at 30 000-40 000 years BP (Roberts et al, 1994b;Chappell et al, 1996). This 'event horizon' can extend further back under favourable conditions and is a function of a number of interacting variables, such as sample medium (e.g.…”

Section: Carbon Chronologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Carbon Chronologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It was this phenomenon that prompted R.G.R. to contact R.J. in 1988 to undertake a comparison of TL and 14 C ages in western Arnhem Land, focusing on archaeological sites where 14 C ages extended back the farthest in time.One of the drawbacks of 14 C dating, however, is the 'glass ceiling' at 30 000-40 000 years BP (Roberts et al, 1994b;Chappell et al, 1996). This 'event horizon' can extend further back under favourable conditions and is a function of a number of interacting variables, such as sample medium (e.g.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Age-frequency distributions, as employed by Allen and colleagues, are prone to distortion because of the inclusion of 14 C ages of different qualities. For example, 14 C ages of more than 40 000 years BP from geomorphological sites often grossly underestimate the true age of the deposit (see Chappell et al, 1996).Third, the approach taken by Allen & Holdaway (1995) makes no distinction between different environments of sample preservation. A pertinent question, but one not asked by Allen and colleagues, is: Have any geomorphological sites in western Arnhem Land been discovered that have yielded 14 C ages in excess of 40 000 years BP?…”

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Humanity from African Naissance to Coming Millennia

Tobias¹,

Raath²,

Moggi‐Cecchi³

et al. 2001

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The first 2.5 million years of hominid history is characterized by limited dispersals similar to those of the living great apes whose home range sizes very little between years. Unlike our closest relative Pan, who are particulary vulnerable during dispersal because the distribution of their resources is highly habitat specific and predation takes a relatively higher toll than it does in r-selected animals, hominids are widely dispersed after 1.8 Ma. Hominid dispersal must have entailed either a shift in the types of resources exploited or a technological advance to ensure resource availability or both. Using data from ecology, geochronology, morphology, and paleontology we assess the initial hominid dispersal from Africa and the relationship to patterns of dispersal in nonhuman primates and large mammals of both 'widely dispersing' and 'non-dispersing' species. The dispersal rates of Plio/Pleistocene hominids differ from those of nonhuman primates and are typical of widely-dispersing large mammals. In fact, H. erectus first appears in Java almost immediately after its appearence in Africa, yet its first appearence in Java is contemporaneous with that of Colobus, Macaca, and Pongo that had already inhabited mainland Asia for millions of years. Although the timing of the first hominid dispersal pre-dates significant technological advances, the energy required by larger hominid body/brain sizes suggest a shift to exploitation of highprotein packages that, according to correlation between faunal and chronometric sequences, is itself dispersing. These data suggest that it is at the origin of H. erectus (sensu lato) that our uniquely human dispersal capabilities began to emerge and that this dispersal is not primarily due to the technological innovation of the Acheulean tradition. IntroductionThe global distribution of Homo sapiens contrasts with the restricted ranges of our closest living primate relative, Pan. Yet for some three million years after our lineages diverged, both were apparently exclusively African phenomena, as Pan remains today. These current biogeographic differences are reflected in home range (HR) sizes that are some 15 to 100 times greater in recent human huntergatherers than in Pan. (23 hectares in Pan, 330-2600 in humans; Leonard and Robertson, 2000). Although an extensive literature considers the significance of the behavioral repertoire that allows the final, relatively late, dispersal of Homo sapiens into Australasia, North and South America, and Siberia (e.g., Lindly & Clark, 1990;Roberts et al., 1991; Davidson & Noble, 1992; Jelinek, 1994; Waters et al., 1997), the origin of this difference in dispersal patterns is not well understood.The original hominid dispersal from Africa has been viewed as a largely hominid (technologically) driven rather than ecologically driven phenomenon. Such scenarios are based on the idea that widely dispersed ex-African hominids are not found before 1.0 ma (Pope, 1983) or are not found before the development of the Acheulean (Wolpoff, 1999), and thus that th...

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When did humans first arrive in greater Australia and why is it important to know?

O’Connell¹,

Allen²

1998

Evol. Anthropol.

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Beyond the radiocarbon limit in Australian archaeology and Quaternary research

Cited by 80 publications

References 23 publications

Radiocarbon Dating of Wood Using Different Pretreatment Procedures: Application to the Chronology of Rotoehu Ash, New Zealand

Radiocarbon Dating of Wood Using Different Pretreatment Procedures: Application to the Chronology of Rotoehu Ash, New Zealand

Humanity from African Naissance to Coming Millennia

When did humans first arrive in greater Australia and why is it important to know?

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