Radiocarbon Dates on the All American Man Pictograph

Chaffee, Scott D.; Hyman, M.; Rowe, M. W.; Coulam, N.; Schroedl, A.; Hogue, Kathleen

doi:10.2307/282347

Cited by 18 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Three examples of this were the All American Man, the Pryor Mountain shield figure, and the Texas bison from Painted Indian Cave. [51][52][53] The All American Man rock painting is unique in our studies. We extracted CO 2 from a charcoal layer that dated to 750 ± 60 years BP.…”

Section: Methods Verificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Radiocarbon Dating of Ancient Rock Paintings

Rowe

2009

Anal. Chem.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A technique based on cold argon and oxygen plasmas permits radiocarbon dates to be obtained on paintings that contain inorganic pigments. (To listen to a podcast about this feature, please go to the Analytical Chemistry website at http://pubs.acs.org/journal/ancham.)Rock art images are among the most enigmatic and personal artifacts studied in paleoarchaeology. Rock paintings (pictographs) left by ancient prehistoric cultures are found all over the worldsvirtually everywhere there are rocks. One example of a polychrome painting in the lower Pecos River region of southwest Texas (where thousands of other impressive painted images are found on the limestone shelter walls) is shown in Figure 1. Two frequently asked questions are, without regard to location, how old is it and what does it mean? This review deals with attempts to answer the question of age.

show abstract

Section: Methods Verificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The resulting CO 2 sample was then sent to an AMS laboratory for radiocarbon measurement. [42][43][44][45] …”

Section: Plasma Extraction Of Organic Carbon From Paints Based On Inomentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiocarbon Dating of Ancient Rock Paintings

Rowe

2009

Anal. Chem.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…2002), Argentina (Hedges et al . 1998), and in the southwestern United States, including California (Scott and Hyder 1993), Utah (Chaffee et al . 1994) and Texas (Russ et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gc–ms Analysis of Lipids in Prehistoric Rock Paints and Associated Oxalate Coatings From the Lower Pecos Region, Texas*

Spades

Russ

2005

Archaeometry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The presumption that lipids were used as binders/vehicles in pictograph paints from southwestern Texas was tested using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A one-step transesterification/derivatization procedure was used to convert bound and unbound fatty acids to fatty acid methyl esters for the analysis. Approximately 30 organic compounds were detected in the natural rock coating that encapsulates the paints, but there were no compounds unique to the paints. Moreover, the C 16:0 and C 18:0 concentrations in the paint samples were similar to the concentrations of these fatty acids in the rock coating, indicating that the compounds are native to the patina. Thus, lipid binders were either not used in the original paint mixture or have since degraded.

show abstract

“…Although rarer than inorganic pigments in the archaeological record, charcoal was also used as pigment. It has been dated in many 1Department laboratories including our own (van der Merwe, Sealy and Yates 1987;McDonald et a1.1990;Valladas, Cachier and Arnold 1990;Clottes, Courtin and Valladas 1992;David 1992;Farrell and Burton 1992;Geib and Fairley 1992;Valladas et a1.1992;Chaffee et a!. 1994a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dating Pictographs with Radiocarbon

et al. 1995

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We report here progress on our technique for 14C dating pictographs. We use low-temperature oxygen plasmas coupled with high-vacuum techniques to selectively remove carbon-containing material in the paints without contamination from rock substrates or accretions. We dated >16 pictograph samples that generally agree with ages expected on the basis of archaeological inference. We have shown that carbonate and calcium oxalate decomposition does not occur during our procedure; little mass fractionation is produced. We also used the technique on samples of known 14C activity. In each case our results agree with previously determined ages of archaeological charcoal samples. Two samples of the standard Third International Radiocarbon Intercomparison wood yielded ages in near accord with the accepted value. We used 14C-free samples to establish that the method and apparatus do not have a significant live carbon background. Each of these determinations supports our conclusion that the technique has the potential of producing accurate and reliable ages. However, background organic material in the basal rocks and accretions can be troublesome, often completely negating the dates obtained.

show abstract

Radiocarbon Dates on the All American Man Pictograph

Cited by 18 publications

References 9 publications

Radiocarbon Dating of Ancient Rock Paintings

Radiocarbon Dating of Ancient Rock Paintings

Gc–ms Analysis of Lipids in Prehistoric Rock Paints and Associated Oxalate Coatings From the Lower Pecos Region, Texas*

Dating Pictographs with Radiocarbon

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About