te: Fri, 1 Nov 1996 14:10:21 -0600 Reply-To: Radiocarbon Mailing List Sender: Radiocarbon Mailing List From: "William F. Manley" Subject: INSTAAR 14C Date List VIII now available Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" TO: Quaternary, 14C, and arctic-info list subscribers SUBJECT: INSTAAR 14C Date List VIII now available The Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), University of Colorado, has recently published "Radiocarbon Date List VIII: Eastern Canadian Arctic, Labrador, Northern Quebec, East Greenland Shelf, Iceland Shelf, and Antarctica." The volume is now available for purchase. With descriptions of 420 radiocarbon dates from marine, terrestrial, and lacustrine settings, this is the most comprehensive INSTAAR Date List ever. The stratigraphic and geochronologic descriptions relate to glacial dynamics, sea-level changes, paleoceanographic conditions, climatic changes, and cultural evolution at high latitudes. Copies of the Date List can be ordered for $15 plus $2 shipping each (US Dollars) from Kathleen Salzberg, INSTAAR, Univ. of Colorado, Campus Box 450, Boulder, CO 80309-0450. Enclose U.S. check or international postal order (payable to University of Colorado), credit card information, or request an invoice. Refer to Occasional Paper No. 50. Ordering questions can be directed to Kathleen via salzberg@spot.colorado.edu. Regards, Bill Manley Research Associate Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research Tel: (303) 492-5792 Fax: (303) 492-6388 E-mail: William.Manley@colorado.edu and Anne Jennings Research Associate Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research Tel: (303) 492-7621 Fax: (303) 492-6388 E-mail: jenninga@spot.colorado.edu ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 1 Nov 1996 16:34:13 -0700 Reply-To: Radiocarbon Mailing List Sender: Radiocarbon Mailing List From: Diane Burns Subject: Wyoming Dating MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Hello all... I am involved in a project to compile a Quaternary Wyoming map, initially 1:250,000, later recompiled to 1:1,000,000 beginning with the southeast quadrant of the state. If anyone would know of references for dating that has been done in any areas in the southeast, would you be so kind as to pass along the info to my email address: burnsdm@uwyo.edu Thank you for your help and time, Regards, Diane Burns burnsdm@csus.edu ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 7 Nov 1996 09:23:50 -0500 Reply-To: Radiocarbon Mailing List Sender: Radiocarbon Mailing List From: Nick Trierweiler Subject: Re: Wyoming Dating Ms. Burns- You may want to check with my colleagues at TRC Mariah in Laramie. I'm sure they'll have some information of interest to you. -Nick Trierweiler ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 10:45:02 -0700 Reply-To: Radiocarbon Mailing List Sender: Radiocarbon Mailing List From: David Sewell Subject: Kennewick Man (fwd) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit [A Washington state newspaper has created a WWW site to document controversy over the dating and study of "Kennewick Man", apparently an early Holocene skeleton found this summer. (Dating was done at the University of California, Riverside.) It sounds like the newspaper is interested in hearing from specialists with opinions on either the dating/identification of the bones or the general issue of repatriation of remains before they have been fully studied. --DS] Date: 12 Nov 1996 00:55:26 -0700 From: "Perdue Andy" Subject: Kennewick Man To: "David Sewell" Hi, you may be interested in checking out a Web site we've set At least 3 major strata were noted. The upper stratum was a dark brown sand layer about 3" thick with a charcoal band near top. Underlying this was a major cultural deposit containing the bulk of artifacts with a layer of stone pavement near bottom. Under the pavement was a Layer III about 5-8" thick with several early type artifacts (cf. Bellows hydration and charcoal: A.D.323-447 and Halawa charcoal 5th-6th Century A.D.). These include artifact relationships with Marquesan materials: stone adzes with a reverse triangular adz sections, a porpoise-tooth pendant, and fishhooks with a double-perforated pearl-shell point consistant with early East Polynesian types. The first radiocarbon date was A.D. 290 +/- 60.(Assumed Charcoal testing). Later (1969) 27 samples including charcoal, Cypraea shell, and sea-urchin spines were tested. Sinoto and Emory concluded that Pu'u Ali'i was abandoned by the mid 13-14 century and first settled around 750 A.D.. Moreover, radiocarbon age determinations on Cypraea shell and charcoal from Layer II of H1 by Washington State Univ. suggested that it was deposited as early as the beginning of the 6th century A.D. thru 13th and 14th centuries. The sea-urchin spines support this dating with range of A.D. 500 +/- 160 to A.D. 1325 +/- 170. The problem or question is that seven radioncarbon dates (all charcoal) from Layer III of H1 (Pu'u Ali'i) dated to a period later than the 13th century. It is sugguested that thes dates are contaminated. Please elaborate on possible contamination including improper laboratory procedure and dating of wood species with C4 photosynthetic pathway. Aloha colvin@aloha.net ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 20 Nov 1996 21:34:26 -1000 Reply-To: Radiocarbon Mailing List Sender: Radiocarbon Mailing List From: Tom Dye Subject: Re: H1:Pu'u.Ali'i In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Wed, 20 Nov 1996, Keith Warner Colvin wrote: > I have a question about the dating terminology at H1: Pu'u Ali'i (Royal > Hill) located at Ka Lae (South Point) on the island of Hawaii. > > Excavations from 1953-1955 by Emory and others, more than 200 3-foot > squares were opened. Over 14,000 artifacts were recovered, including: > 1,710 fishhooks, and 12,314 abraders of coral and sea-urchin spines. Dug > in 6" levels instead of layers, clashes of workers broke out. Many aspects > were unpublished. > > At least 3 major strata were noted. The upper stratum was a dark brown > sand layer about 3" thick with a charcoal band near top. Underlying this > was a major cultural deposit containing the bulk of artifacts with a layer > of stone pavement near bottom. Under the pavement was a Layer III about > 5-8" thick with several early type artifacts (cf. Bellows hydration and > charcoal: A.D.323-447 and Halawa charcoal 5th-6th Century A.D.). These > include artifact relationships with Marquesan materials: stone adzes with > a reverse triangular adz sections, a porpoise-tooth pendant, and fishhooks > with a double-perforated pearl-shell point consistant with early East > Polynesian types. The dating of Bellows and Halawa, Molokai are not so secure. See Spriggs and Anderson in _Antiquity_ a few years ago. The early date from Bellows is from a context above a later date. > > The first radiocarbon date was A.D. 290 +/- 60.(Assumed Charcoal testing). > Later (1969) 27 samples including charcoal, Cypraea shell, and sea-urchin > spines were tested. Sinoto and Emory concluded that Pu'u Ali'i was > abandoned by the mid 13-14 century and first settled around 750 A.D.. > > Moreover, radiocarbon age determinations on Cypraea shell and charcoal from > Layer II of H1 by Washington State Univ. suggested that it was deposited as > early as the beginning of the 6th century A.D. thru 13th and 14th > centuries. The sea-urchin spines support this dating with range of A.D. > 500 +/- 160 to A.D. 1325 +/- 170. > > The problem or question is that seven radioncarbon dates (all charcoal) > from Layer III of H1 (Pu'u Ali'i) dated to a period later than the 13th > century. It is sugguested that thes dates are contaminated. > > Please elaborate on possible contamination including improper laboratory > procedure and dating of wood species with C4 photosynthetic pathway. > There is a lot going on here. The ocean reservoir of radiocarbon is about 400 years older than the atmospheric reservoir, a fact not appreciated when the Cypraea shells and urchin spines were dated. Recalibration of the shell and urchin spine dates (assuming the urchin spine dates can be recalibrated, which is problematic) can make them about 400 years younger on the calendar scale (if the radiocarbon age was not based on an assumed d13C of -25 per mil). It is not completely clear if the laboratories calculated the radiocarbon age with an assumed d13C of -25 per mil, or whether d13C was measured. I believe, based on the wording of some correspondence at Bishop Museum, that the former was the case for the Washington dates. If I am right, then the recalibrated shell dates will differ by about 100 years. There is no way to know now whether C4 plants were dated. They are relatively unusual in most Hawaiian sites, with the inland sites at Kahoolawe a major exception. On Oahu Island, for instance, less than 1% of the wood charcoal dates are on C4 plants. There is also mentioned in the literature a possible problem with the replicability of the dates from the Gakshuin laboratory. To my knowledge, no one has proved that this is certainly a problem, but many scholars ignore these dates because they so often do not fit with dates from other laboratories. The "old wood" problem is likely to be very real in Hawaii, but it has received almost no serious attention. Historic records describe old logs from the Pacific Northwest floating ashore and being used for firewood. It is not hard to imagine quite a bit of old driftwood on the shores when Polynesians first colonized. If this was used for firewood, then the radiocarbon dates obtained from it will not accurately date its use as firewood, but instead will date the growth of the tree several thousand miles, and perhaps several hundred years, away. Many of these issues are dealt with in a paper of mine published in the _New Zealand Journal of Archaeology_ in 1992. My conclusion, based on an analysis of the wood charcoal and Cypraea sp. dates and a cross-dating of the site with the H-8 site using fishhook styles, was that the H1 site was occupied much later than originally thought, and that the occupation was relatively brief. I floated the idea that the "early" artifact types are really just rare types that persisted through much of Hawaiian prehistory, but recognized that the excavation techniques were such that an early layer might not have been recognized and distinguished in the field. I hope this helps. Aloha, Tom Tom Dye, 920 Ward Ave. #14G, Honolulu, Hawaii 96814 (808)538-3322 ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 22 Nov 1996 11:00:40 +1100 Reply-To: Radiocarbon Mailing List Sender: Radiocarbon Mailing List From: John Head Subject: Henry Polach Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Henry Polach died peacefully in his sleep last night (21st November) after a relapse of the cancer he survived in 1985. He was lucid and able to walk around the house yesterday, and Henry being Henry, still had not given up. Regards to all, John Head and Steve Robertson Quaternary Dating Research Centre The Australian National University Canberra, ACT Australia ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 25 Nov 1996 13:43:23 -0700 Reply-To: Radiocarbon Mailing List Sender: Radiocarbon Mailing List From: William Doleman Subject: Radiocarbon Database Book (fwd) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII FYI, forwarded with permission of the original poster . . . . ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 25 Nov 1996 08:35:09 -0600 From: Ascskinner@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Radiocarbon Database Book The Radiocarbon database for Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia has recently been published in the West Virginia Archaeologist in Volume 47(1&2), Spring & Fall, 1995. The radiocarbon database contains over 1,900 dates. The issue can be purchased for $12.00 plus $1.50 shipping and handling. Copies can be purchased by contacting Shaune Skinner, c/o ASC Group, Inc., 4620 Indianola Ave. Columbus, Ohio 43214, (614-268-2514). Makes checks payable to the Council for West Virginia Archaeology. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ACRA-L - American Cultural Resources Association. To unsubscribe send mail to listproc@listproc.nonprofit.net: UNSUB ACRA-L To subscribe send mail to that address: SUB ACRA-L YourFullName Report any problems to Thomas R. Wheaton ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 29 Nov 1996 08:53:43 +1200 Reply-To: Radiocarbon Mailing List Sender: Radiocarbon Mailing List From: John Dennison Subject: Re: Henry Polach Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Henry Polach died peacefully in his sleep last night (21st November) after >a relapse of the cancer he survived in 1985. He was lucid and able to walk >around the house yesterday, and Henry being Henry, still had not given up. John, Thank you for telling us of Henry's peaceful death. You have lost a close friend; dating science has lost a man whose contribution will not be forgotten. Please accept my condolences, and my best wishes, John Dennison John Dennison Research Fellow in Anatomy Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology School of Medical Sciences P.O. Box 913 Telephone National 03-479-7437 Dunedin International 64-3-479-7437 NEW ZEALAND FAX (64)-3-479-7254 e-mail john.dennison@stonebow.otago.ac.nz