BIOA01H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Neanderthal, Radiocarbon Dating, Radiometric Dating

• School: UTSC
• Department: Biological Sciences
• Course: BIOA01H3
• Professor: Maydianne Andrade

Document Summary

Radiometric dating: can allow estimation of absolute age of fossils. Depends on half-life of isotopes found in fossils or surrounding volcanic rock. Radiocarbon dating: living organisms take up c14 (half-life 5,730 years), it begins to degrade when they die. Measuring amount of remaining radioisotope allows estimation of age (with some error) Calibrated by comparison to tree growth rings/egyptian mummies. Ex. potassium/argon; 1. 3 billion year half-life; useful range: 100,000-4. 5 billion years. Recent improvements in radiometric dating allows more accurate estimates of age. = improved accuracy and precision for remains older than. Neanderthals were only homo species in eurasia for about 200,000 years. Survived from about 400,000ya to about 35,000ya. 50,000 to 30,000 years ago, homo sapiens reached. Neanderthals & homo sapiens overlapped for 2,600 to 5,400 years. Ample opportunity for exchange of culture, technology, and genes. Evolution can lead to the loss of features within lineages, not only gain: transitional forms.