Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T05:53:12.169Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Recognition of Bituminous Coal Contaminants in Radiocarbon Samples

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Kenneth B. Tankersley ,
Cheryl Ann Munson  and
Donald Smith
Kenneth B. Tankersley
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405
Cheryl Ann Munson
Affiliation:
Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405
Donald Smith
Affiliation:
Center for Applied Isotopes Studies, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30605
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Bituminous coal, previously suspected as a contaminant in radiocarbon samples, has now been demonstrated to be a source of dating error in archaeological and geological samples. Standard laboratory procedures are inadequate to recognize or remove coal from samples, but techniques for identifying coal particles include paleo-botanical and reflectance analyses, and possibly accelerator dating.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , April 1987 , pp. 318 - 330
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Adovasio, J. M., and Carlisle, R. C. 1984 An Indian Camp for 20,000 Years. Scientific American 250(5): 130–136.Google Scholar
Adovasio, J. M., Gunn, J. D., Donahue, J., and Stuckenrath, R. 1977 Progress Report on the Meadowcroft Rockshelter—A 16,000 Year Chronicle. In Amerinds and Their Paleoenvironments in North America, edited by Newman, Walter S. and Salwen, Bert. Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences 288: 137–160.Google Scholar
Adovasio, J. M., Gunn, J. D., Donahue, J., and Stuckenrath, R. 1978 Meadowcroft Rockshelter, 1977: An Overview. American Antiquity 43: 632–651.Google Scholar
Adovasio, J. M., Gunn, J. D., Donahue, J., and Stuckenrath, R., Guilday, J. E., and Volman, K. 1980 Yes Virginia, It Really is That Old: A Reply to Haynes and Mead. American Antiquity 45: 588–595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, C. 1960 Palynological Techniques. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge.Google Scholar
Clayton, Lee, and Moran, Stephen R. 1982 Chronology of Late Wisconsinan Glaciation in Middle North America. Quaternary Science Reviews 1: 52–82.Google Scholar
Dincauze, D. F. 1981 The Meadowcroft Papers. Quarterly Review of Archeology 2: 1: 3–4.Google Scholar
Griffin, James B. 1943 The Ft. Ancient Aspect: Its Cultural and Chronological Position in Mississippi Valley Archaeology. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Haynes, C. Vance 1977 When and From Where Did Man Arrive in Northeastern North America: A Discussion. In Amerinds and Their Paleoenvironments in North America, edited by Newman, Walter S. and Salwen, Bert. Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences 288: 165–166.Google Scholar
Haynes, C. Vance 1980 Paleoindian Charcoal from Meadowcroft Rockshelter: Is Contamination a Problem? American Antiquity 45: 582–587.Google Scholar
Haynes, C. Vance, Donahue, D. J., A. Jull, J. T., and Zabel, T. H. 1984 Application of Accelerator Dating to Fluted Point Paleoindian Sites. Archaeology of Eastern North America 12: 184–191.Google Scholar
Hedges, R. E. M. 1981 Radiocarbon Dating with an Accelerator: Review and Preview. Archaeometry 23: 3–18.Google Scholar
Heroux, Yvon, Chagnon, Andre, and Bertrand, Rudolf 1979 Compilation and Correlation of Major Thermal Maturation Indicators. American Association of Petroleum Geology Bulletin 63: 2128–2144.Google Scholar
Hussey, Edward W. 1981 A Pithouse at the Bartlett-Bird Site (46-Wd-35). West Virginia Archeologist 31: 38–42.Google Scholar
Kosanke, Robert M. 1969 Mississippian and Pennsylvanian Palynology. In Aspects of Palynology, edited by Tschudy, Robert H. and Scott, Richard A., pp. 223–269. Wiley-Interscience, New York.Google Scholar
Lynch, Thomas F. 1974 The Antiquity of Man in South America. Quaternary Research 4: 356–377.Google Scholar
Munson, Cheryl Ann 1980 Air Photo Interpretation of the Hovey Lake Site: A Retrodictive and Predictive Study. Paper presented at the Ohio Valley Archaeological Conference, Knoxville.Google Scholar
Munson, Cheryl Ann 1982 The Southwind Site Project: Archaeological Data Recovery at a Mississippian Village, Posey County, Indiana. Paper presented at the 39th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Memphis.Google Scholar
Munson, Cheryl Ann (editor) 1987 The Southwind Site: A Mississippian Village in southwestern Indiana. In preparation for the Indiana Port Commission.Google Scholar
Riggs, Rodney E. 1986 New Stratigraphic Sequences from the Lower Little Miami Valley. West Virginia Archeologist 38(2), pp. 1–21.Google Scholar
Riordan, Robert V. 1975 Ceramics and Chronology: Mississippian Settlement in the Black Bottom, Southern Illinois. Ph.D. dissertation, Southern Illinois University. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Stanford, Dennis 1983 Pre-Clovis Occupation South of the Ice Sheets. In Early Man in the New World, edited by Shutler, Richard, pp. 65–72. Sage Publications, Beverly Hills.Google Scholar
Stuckenrath, Robert 1977 Radiocarbon: Some Notes from Merlin's Diary. In Amerinds and their Paleoenvironments in North America, edited by Newman, Walter S. and Salwen, Bert. Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences 288: 181–188.Google Scholar
Tankersley, Kenneth B. 1983 Coal, Radiocarbon, and Rockshelters of the Eastern United States. Paper presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Central States Anthropological Society, Cleveland.Google Scholar
Tankersley, Kenneth B. 1984 Tracing Recharge Water to Porous CoUuvium in Rockshelter Sites. National Speleological Society Bulletin 46: 33–34.Google Scholar
Tankersley, Ken, and Meinhart, John 1982 Physical and Structural Properties of Ceramic Materials Utilized by a Ft. Ancient Group. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 7: 225–243.Google Scholar
Tomkeieff, S. I. 1983 Dictionary of Petrology. John Wiley and Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Wier, Charles E. 1973 Coal Resources of Indiana. Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey Bulletin 42-1. Indiana Geological Survey, Bloomington.Google Scholar