Tulane University
Chris Rodning
NAME
INTRODUCTION TO ARCHAEOLOGY
ANTH 334
F2008
SCORE
of 40 points
SECOND HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
Absolute and Relative Dating Methods
Answer the following questions about dating archaeological deposits and artifacts. This assignment was
handed out in class on 10/1/08. (It is also available in the “Assignments” section on Blackboard.) Please
complete this assignment and have it ready to hand in at the beginning of class on 10/8/08. Discussions
of dating techniques in archaeology can be found in chapters 8 and 9 of the course textbook.
list of relative dating techniques
index fossils
stratigraphy
seriation
obsidian hydration
fluoride dating
list of absolute dating techniques
index fossils
potassium-argon
dendrochronology argon-argon
radiocarbon
archaeomagnetism
thermoluminescence
You are excavating an archaeological site, located in an arid environment in New Mexico, and the
Anasazi pueblos at this site probably date sometime between AD 1000 and AD 1500. You are interested
in finding out which rooms were built early in the history of this settlement, and you are also interested in
finding out the sequence in which other rooms were built. These rooms are built of stone, with roofs
made out of logs. You find deposits of pottery in rooms that seem to have been dumped in rooms when
those rooms were abandoned. Pottery can be dated with some degree of confidence based on
stratigraphic evidence of stylistic change in pottery from other nearby sites in this region.
(There is a map of this site on the following page.)
(This is a map of an actual site, Pot Creek Pueblo, located in Taos, New Mexico, and excavated by
Michael Adler and other archaeologists at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.)
1. What is the most precise dating technique to help you determine the dates when different rooms
were built (1 point)?
2. What is the dated event in this case (2 points)?
3. What is the target event in this case (2 points)?
4. What other absolute dating technique would help give you an independent check on the general
accuracy of other chronological indicators (1 point)?
5. How could you propose dates for the abandonment of different rooms (3 points)?
6. Would your proposed timing of room abandonment give you terminus post quem or terminus ante
quem dates for the abandonment of specific rooms (2 points)?
2
3
You are excavating an archaeological site in Mesoamerica. Hieroglyphs at this site indicate that it was
occupied from roughly 400 B.C. to A.D. 900. Caches of obsidian daggers (which may have been
weapons used in combat and in ritual events) are present in several different areas of the site.
7. What dating method could help you determine which caches of these obsidian artifacts date to
earlier or later periods during the history of settlement at this site (1 point)?
8. Is this an absolute or relative dating technique (1 point)?
You are conducting pedestrian surveys to look for prehistoric Native American settlements located in
alluvial floodplains in the Mississippi River Valley in Missouri. Your surface surveys are recovering stone
tools and stone tool debris at some sites, but the most abundant form of artifact found at these sites are
pieces of clay pottery. Visible on these pieces of pottery are traces of decorations on inner and outer
surfaces, and some clues about the characteristics of the shape and size of the pots themselves. At most
sites these artifacts are found on the ground surface or in deposits of alluvial sediment that have been
disturbed by plowing and other recent earthmoving activities. There are therefore no stratigraphic data
from the sites found during your survey that give any clear indications about the dates of these artifacts or
the sites themselves.
9. What absolute dating technique might help you determine the dates of different sites found during
your survey (1 point)?
10. What relative dating technique might help you determine the dates of different sites found during
your survey (1 point)?
You are excavating sites in Olduvai Gorge in Africa to recover fossils of our early human ancestors and
evidence about the use of stone tools by early humans.
11. What absolute dating technique or techniques would help you in your effort to date the geological
layers in which fossils and artifacts are found (2 points)?
12. What is actually dated in this method, what is the target event, and how can you relate the dates
you get with the artifacts and fossils you are interested in dating (3 points)?
ABSOLUTE DATES
4
For the homework assignment, please fill in the “age range” and “datable materials” columns. Use the notes column to write down any additional
notes that you would like for your own study purposes. (10 points)
METHOD
index fossils
AMS
C14
dendrochonology
archaeomagnetism
thermoluminescence
OSL
OCR
potassium-argon
argon-argon
AGE RANGE
DATABLE MATERIAL(S)
NOTES
RELATIVE DATES
5
For the homework assignment, please fill in the “age range” and “datable materials” columns. Use the notes column to write down any additional
notes that you would like for your own study purposes. (10 points)
METHOD
index fossils
stratigraphy
seriation
obsidian hydration
fluoride dating
AGE RANGE
DATABLE MATERIAL(S)
NOTES