Archeological chronology
McGraw-Hill Science & Technology Dictionary:
Top
archeological chronology
(¦är·kē·ə¦läj·i·kəl krə′näl·ə·jē)
(archeology) The establishment of the temporal sequence of human cultures by applying a variety of dating methods to cultural remains.
Related Videos:
Top
Archeological chronology
McGraw-Hill Science & Technology Encyclopedia:
Top
Archeological chronology
The establishment of the temporal sequence of human cultures. Prior to the discovery of nuclear and chemical dating methods, which provide an absolute time scale, archeologists used stratigraphy, lithic and ceramic typology, seriation, index fossils, and a limited range of chemical techniques to establish relative chronologies for cultural remains. The major chemical techniques used in dating of bones in relative sequence have been labeled F-U-N (for fluorine-uranium-nitrogen). In a single site or environment, bones of the same age usually absorb the same amount of fluorine and uranium while losing the same amount of nitrogen.
Since the mid-twentieth century numerous absolute (sometimes called chronometric) dating techniques have been devised by natural scientists. Some of these techniques can give results in calendar years, whereas others yield dates which are expressed in years but which cannot always be correlated precisely with the calendar. The major methods for absolute dating of archeological materials used include radiocarbon dating, dendrochronology, thermoluminescence dating, hydration dating, racemization, potassium-argon dating, lead-210 dating, and archeomagnetism. Many other techniques, for example, fission track dating, have been used to establish archeological chronology, and a host of physical and, to a lesser degree, chemical dating methods have been investigated. See also Dating methods; Dendrochronology; Fission track dating; Paleomagnetism; Racemization; Radiocarbon dating; Rock age determination.
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
McGraw-Hill Science & Technology Dictionary
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms. Copyright © 2003, 1994, 1989, 1984, 1978, 1976, 1974 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Read more