Comparison of fluoride and direct AMS radiocarbon dating of black bear bone from Lawson Cave, Missouri

Abstract

After a 20-year hiatus during which few archaeologists discussed fluoride dating, the method again received attention in the 1980s and 1990s when some argued for its validity. As a dating method, fluoride dating depends on the rate at which fluorine ions replace hydroxyl ions in osseous tissue. The rate of replacement is influenced by the properties of the skeletal part (SP), sediment chemistry (K), and sediment hydrology (H), and the replacement rate influences estimates of time. Calibrated AMS radiocarbon assays of 10 black bear (Ursus americanus) femora from a natural-trap cave in central Missouri are weakly correlated with fluorine concentrations, determined by neutron activation analysis in the 10 femora. Despite minimal variation in SP, K, and H, results indicate fluoride dating can be considered a valid dating method only in cases when the chronological validity of its results are confirmed with independent chronometric data. As similarities in fluorine amounts across specimens increase, provenience information and bone orientation data as well as fine resolution data on K and H become critical to the application of fluoride dating.

Fluorine Content of Fossil Human Bones Excavated from the SHIRAHO‐SAONETABARU Cave Site, ISHIGAKI Is., Okinawa, Japan, as a Chronological and Sedimentary Environmental Index

“…The factors affecting fluorine concentrations shown in Lyman et al . (2012) were different from those of the others. Poor seepage water circulation is likely to affect these low values.…”

“…No other individual has been found to be placed with only one body in such a narrow rock shade. The factors affecting fluorine concentrations shown in Lyman et al (2012) were different from those of the others. Poor seepage water circulation is likely to affect these low values.…”

“…Lyman et al . (2012) summarized the factors affecting the fluoride concentrations in fossil bones as follows. the skeletal part from which the tissue sample is derived (size, density, bone sites [diaphysis and epiphysis], bone tissue [compact and trabecular], and age) the sediment chemistry or chemistry of the depositional/burial microenvironment (sediment type, porosity, groundwater infiltration capacity, temperature) hydrology of the depositional/burial microenvironment (fluoride ion concentration, pH, groundwater circulation rate) temporal duration of exposure …”

A comparative study of the mechanical properties of a dinosaur and crocodile fossil teeth

“…Calcium concentrations appear to have reached a saturated value as there were no significant differences between the dentin and enamel regions, and also between both the species (Table 1). Fluorine content in the bone tissue that had undergone diagenesis, obtained from dating technique is estimated as a function [55]:…”

F-content variation in mammoth ivory from Aurignacian contexts: Preservation, alteration, and implications for ivory-procurement strategies

“…In spite of the significance of these artefacts, many details regarding the procurement, treatment, and use of mammoth ivory in the Early Upper Palaeolithic remain to be clarified. In the analysis of osseous archaeological materials, levels of geological Fluorine can be a source of useful information on preservation, taphonomy, and, with appropriate control of other variables, relative burial time (Gaschen et al, 2008;Goodrum and Olson, 2009;Lyman et al, 2012;Parker et al, 1974;Reiche, 2006).…”