ANTH 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Stratum, Radiocarbon Dating, Relative Dating
Document Summary
Goal: understand key concepts for absolute and relative dating. Infer relative dates of strata based on their position. Describe the time ranges and limitations for any dating method. Identify the best method of dating for a particular context. Fossils traces of dead organisms preserved in rock. Typically only the hard parts of organisms are preserved. Material usually has to be deposited quickly and buried deeply to be preserved. Relative dating tells us which fossils or objects are older or younger than each other: stratigraphic superposition; typological sequencing; biostratigraphic dating; and contextual seriation. Chronometric (absolute or numerical) dating tells us the actual age of the sediments in which fossils are deposited or age of an object: potassium-argon dating; fission-track dating; radiocarbon dating; and dendrochronology. Stratigraphy the sequence of geologic strata deposited by water or wind. Law of superposition objects found in lower layers should be older than those found in higher ones.
