1998
DOI: 10.1126/science.280.5372.2132
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Ambiguities in Direct Dating of Rock Surfaces Using Radiocarbon Measurements

Abstract: An attempt was made to date rock surfaces with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon measurements of rock varnishes or rock weathering rinds. In two case studies, samples pretreated in the laboratory of Dr. Ronald Dorn prior to AMS analysis have been found to contain significant quantities of carbon-rich materials of two distinct classes. Type I material resembles bituminous coal, whereas type II material resembles pyrolized wood charcoal fragments. In samples where these type I and type II materials… Show more

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Cited by 48 publications
(24 citation statements)
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“…Rock varnish forms very slowly at rates thought to be between Ͻ1 to about 40 m per 1,000 years (50), thus archeologists have been interested in dating the age of varnishes to place petroglyphs etched into varnish by ancient cultures into their full historical context (22,90). Unfortunately, radiocarbon dating of varnish has proven difficult, and results must be used with caution (7,9,17,22,62).…”
Section: Microorganisms Gmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Rock varnish forms very slowly at rates thought to be between Ͻ1 to about 40 m per 1,000 years (50), thus archeologists have been interested in dating the age of varnishes to place petroglyphs etched into varnish by ancient cultures into their full historical context (22,90). Unfortunately, radiocarbon dating of varnish has proven difficult, and results must be used with caution (7,9,17,22,62).…”
Section: Microorganisms Gmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Dreamtime Superhighway: an analysis of Sydney Basin rock art and prehistoric information exchange regional patterns for the Sydney region The problem of demonstrating contemporaneity between art and deposit relates primarily to the fact that parietal art, until recently, could not be directly dated. Theoretically AMS radiocarbon dating is the solution to this issue, but this technique is still in its adolescence (Keyser 2001) because of the relative newness of the techniques and the lack of theorising about applicability of these techniques to art assemblages generally (see Beck et al 1998;Bednarik 1996;Hyman and Rowe 1997;McDonald 2000c;McDonald et al 1990;Rosenfeld and Smith 1997).…”
Section: The Contemporaneity Of Art and Depositmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…In this summary we do not use the calibrated ages based on the rock-varnish cation ratios or the radiocarbon ages from rock-varnish samples. These ages were found to be problematic (Beck et al, 1998;Watchman, 2000;Gillespie, 2003) and even R. Dorn, who conducted the rock-varnish cation ratios analyses on samples from Lake Manix (Meek, 1990), deemphasized their importance (Whitley and Dorn, 1993). In his recent discussion of Lake Manix, Meek (1999) also avoids using the various rock-varnish ages.…”
Section: Lake Manixmentioning
confidence: 99%