Why don’t dinosaur bones preserve well?
Most aren’t in conditions that allow for preservation
How are things fossilized?
Buried, formation processes
What are some natural formaion processes?
Ashfall, anoxic water
WHat’s a way to study formation processes?
Live with indigenous groups and do what they do
Type
Group based on attributes
Typology
Groups based on types
Style
Distinct shape/decoration
How do you order artifacts?
Logical sequence
Pleistocene and holocene
Glacial and interglacial periods (41k year cycle) because of fluctuation of ocean temperatures.
Milancoritch cycles
CYcles that led to fluctuation of earth’s temperature (proximity to sun, earth’s angle, etc)
Pollen dating
Measuring variation in species of trees based on conditions.
Fauna dating
Dating by species of animals present
How do you find the age range of a site?
Oldest to youngest
Calendars
Pre scientific dating. Need to be able to convert to today.
C14 levels stabilize at…
Death
How long is radiocarbon dating good for?
30k years
What do we need to account for with radiocarbon dating?
Cosmic rays
K/Ar to Ar/Ar
Same principle as radiocarbon, but… 1.3 billion years. Also only volcanic rock
Thermoluminescense
Energy from electrons
Optically stimated
Light energy
electron spin resonance
Measures radiactive decay of stupp that absorbed radiation
