Middle Holocene Age of the Sunnyvale Human Skeleton

A morphologically modern human skeleton from Sunnyvale, California, previously dated by aspartic acid racemization to be approximately 70,000 years old and by uranium series isotopic ratios to be 8300 and 9000 years old, appears to be younger when dated by the carbon-14 method. Four carbon-14 determ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1983-06, Vol.220 (4603), p.1271-1273
Main Authors: Taylor, R. E., Payen, Louis A., Gerow, Bert, Donahue, D. J., Zabel, T. H., Juli, A. J. T., Damon, P. E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropology, Prehistoric
Bones
Geology
Growth rings
Humans
Ions
Magnets
Man, Prehistoric
Physical anthropology
Prehistoric anthropology
Radiocarbon
Radiocarbon dating
Skeleton
Uranium
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Summary:A morphologically modern human skeleton from Sunnyvale, California, previously dated by aspartic acid racemization to be approximately 70,000 years old and by uranium series isotopic ratios to be 8300 and 9000 years old, appears to be younger when dated by the carbon-14 method. Four carbon-14 determinations made by both decay and direct counting on three organic fractions of postcranial bone support a middle Holocene age assignment for the skeleton, probably in the range of 3500 to 5000 carbon-14 years before the present. This dating evidence is consistent with the geologic, archeological, and anthropometric relationships of the burial as well as previously determined carbon-14 determinations on associated materials.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.220.4603.1271