Dating of bone

Gillespie, R., Hedges, R.E.M. and Wand, J.O. 1984 Radiocarbon dating of bone by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. Journal of Archaeological Science 11 165-170. 

EU and LU are not the only uptake models that have been proposed. More mathematically sophisticated models have been developed (e.g., Szabo and Rosholt 1969 Hille 1979 Chen and Yuan 1988), in some cases using both the U and U decay chains (see Ivanovich 1982 Millard and Pike 1999 for summaries). While there have been some apparently successful applications of these models, none have been found to be universally applicable, and the search for a reliable method of U-series dating of bones and teeth continues. In the last decade or so, two important new approaches to the modeling of U uptake in bones and in teeth have been developed. These are discussed in detail below. 

Although not a very recent development, measurement of U-series isotopes by gamma spectrometry is worth a mention here because of its increasing application to the dating of bones. About 50 mg, or less, of bone is required for a TIMS U-series measurement, although a bone section is required if profiles are to be measured for the application of the D-A model. Understandably, museum curators are reluctant to allow the most valuable specimens to be cut or drilled, so the non-destructive measurement of a U-series date is extremely advantageous. 

Chen T, Ynan S (1988) Uraninm-series dating of bones and teeth from Chinese Paleohthic sites. Archaeometry 30 59-76... 

Pike AWG, Millard AR (forthcoming) An empirical assessment of the accuracy and precision of U-series dating of bone. 

Uranium Series Dating. Reliable dating of bone is possible when using the technique known as uranium series dating (see Textbox 16). The technique, which is also based on measuring relative amounts of uranium, makes possible dating very old bones, beyond the range that can be dated with radiocarbon, that is, over 40,000 years and up to 500,000 years old (Schwarcz 1997 Ivanovich and Harmon 1992). 

Fluorine Dating. Probably the oldest scientific dating technique is fluorine dating, which, although seldom used today, is discussed here because of its historic interest. Fluorine dating of bone centers on an irreversible process whereby the inorganic component of buried bone is slowly and gradually, transformed into a more stable compound (see Textbox 67) (Camot 1893 Middleton 1845). 

Bada, J. L. (1972), Dating of bones using the racemization of isoleucine, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. (July). 

Johnson, K. (1997), Chemical dating of bones based on diagenetic changes in bone apatite, /. Archaeol. Sci. 24, 431-437. 

Taylor, R. E., Problems in the Radiocarbon Dating of Bone, Chapter 23 in this book. 

Berger, R., Horney, A. G., Libby, W. F., Radiocarbon Dating of Bone and Shell from Their Organic Components, Science, 1964, 144, 999-1001. 

Hass, H., Banewics, J. J., Radiocarbon Dating of Bone Apatite Using Thermal Release of C02, Radiocarbon, 1980, in press. 

Hassan, A. A., Hare, P. E., Amino Acid Analysis in Radiocarbon Dating of Bone Collagen, In Archaeological Chemistry II, p. 109-116, Washington, D.C., American Chemical Society, 1978. 

Oakley, K.P. (1963). Fluorine, uranium and nitrogen dating of bones. In The Scientist and Archaeology, ed. Pyddoke, E., Roy Publishers, New York, pp. 111-119. 

Pike, A.W. G., Hedges, R. E. M., and Van Calsteren, P. (2002). U-series dating of bone using the diffusion-adsorption model. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 66 4273 1286. 

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