CLST 129 Chapter Notes -Absolute Dating, Tutankhamun, Relative Dating
24 Apr 2013
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Relative dating: the idea that something is older (or younger) relative to something else is the basis of relative dating. Our timescales must relate to a fixed point in time. In the christian world it is the birth of chirst in the year 1ad, years are either counted back from his birth (before christ) or (after christ) - not only system. In muslim world the basic fixed point is from the prophets departure from mecca: scientists who derive dates from radioactive methods want a neutral international system and have chosen to count back from the present (bp). Bp refers to before 1950 the year of the establishment of radiocarbon dating. Convenient for scientist but confusing for everyone else: paleolithic period stretches back two or three million years before 10,000 bc. Stratification: the laying down or depositing of strata or layers (also called deposits) one above the other: underlying layer was deposited first and therefore older then the overlying layers.
