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The Geological Approach to Dating Archaeological Sites*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Troy L. Péwé
Troy L. Péwé*
Affiliation:
United States Geological SurveyUniversity of Alaska College, Alaska
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Extract

Abasic Question that must be answered for any archaeological site is, how old is it? Although some archaeological sites can be dated on the basis of archaeological correlations alone and although dendrochronological (Giddings, 1952, pp. 105-110) and radiocarbon methods give absolute ages for other sites, many sites can be dated only by methods based on the geologists’ knowledge of geographic and climatic changes during the last few tens of thousands of years. The dates of these changes are established in part by radiocarbon and related methods. Study of archaeological sites accurately dated by radiocarbon methods will amplify the geologists’ understanding of late Quaternary events.

The well known techniques of dendrochronological and radiocarbon dating need no discussion. The interrelations of methods that depend ultimately on our knowledge of Quaternary climatic and geographic changes are not always well understood, however, by archaeologists. The present paper is intended to clarify some of these interrelations.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , July 1954 , pp. 51 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1954

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Footnotes

*

Publication authorized by The Director, U.S; Geological Survey.

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