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Accelerator Radiocarbon Dates on Charcoal, Shell, and Human Bone from the Del Mar Site, California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Thomas W. Stafford Jr.  and
Rose A. Tyson
Thomas W. Stafford Jr.
Affiliation:
Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 2801 Upton St. N.W., Washington, DC 20008, Center for Analytical Chemistry, National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, and Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131
Rose A. Tyson
Affiliation:
San Diego Museum of Man, 1350 El Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA 92101
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Abstract

Accelerator radiocarbon dates on shell, charcoal, and human bone samples are an indication that human activity at the Del Mar site dates to 5000 B.P. and possibly from 7000 B.P. The shell and charcoal fragments were dislocated stratigraphically by extensive bioturbation and provide evidence that accelerator dates on extremely small samples should be used with caution. Certain depositional environments will require multiple dating within a site because single-sample dating will not yield definitive ages. Dating of individual amino acids from the Del Mar sphenoid yielded an average age of 4900 ± 40 B.P. and conclusively establishes the age for the Del Mar skull. The previously dated tibia was found to be contaminated with exogenous amino acids, thereby making its age uncertain.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , April 1989 , pp. 389 - 395
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1989

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