Word: radiocarbon
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...electrifying as the discovery was, the news just announced by the French Ministry of Culture is equally astonishing. Radiocarbon dating showed that the images aren't 20,000 years old, or even 27,000 (the age of what had been believed to be the earliest cave painting, at Cosquer cave near Marseilles), but 30,000 years or more -- making these the oldest cave paintings ever found. The dating is based on eight paint samples tested at three laboratories. If it holds up, says New York University anthropologist Randall White, an expert on prehistoric art, "it's a pretty big shock...
Morley and Thompson presumed that certain practices of the ancient Maya could be deduced from those of their descendants. Modern scientists are more rigorous; besides, they have the advantage of sophisticated technology, like radiocarbon dating, which can help test their theories...
...also uncovered traces of what may be an even older campsite nearby on a buried promontory. The evidence: 26 fractured stones, some of which were clearly worked by human hands, as well as three clay-lined pits containing charcoal that may be nearly 33,000 years old. Although radiocarbon dating supports this idea, Dillehay is reluctant to draw any conclusions. "The older level is a hell of a problem," he says, "and it simply will not go away. The more I look at the evidence, the more it looks like it represents human culture, but intellectually I still...
...site in 1978, she found cave paintings, ash-filled hearths and what she believes are stone tools that are at least 30,000 and perhaps more than 50,000 years old. Says Guidon: "I was the first person to be surprised. I believed the standard theories." Each successive radiocarbon test, though, bore out her initial findings. She became a convert -- and an untiring champion -- of the pre-Clovis theory...
Critics have similar doubts about charcoal Guidon believes came from ancient fireplaces. "Radiocarbon dating is tried and true," explains archaeologist David Meltzer of Southern Methodist University. "The problem is linking the dating of objects to human occupation. How do you know it was a piece of charcoal touched by human hands and not just a piece of burned tree?" Brian Fagan of the University of California at Santa Barbara is a bit more blunt: "I think Pedra Furada is absolute horse manure...