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The Meadowcroft Rockshelter Radiocarbon Chronology 1975-1990

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

J. M. Adovasio ,
J. Donahue  and
R. Stuckenrath
J. M. Adovasio
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Department of Geology and Planetary Sciences, and Cultural Resource Management Program, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
J. Donahue
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Department of Geology and Planetary Sciences, and Cultural Resource Management Program, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
R. Stuckenrath
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Radiocarbon Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh Applied Research Center, 365 William Pitt Way, Pittsburgh, PA 15238
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Abstract

Ever since the publication of the first of more than 50 internally consistent radiocarbon dates from Meadowcroft Rockshelter (36 WH297), controversy has been generated by frequent assertions that the dates older than 11,000 B.C. have suffered particulate or nonparticulate contamination. Data bearing on these assertions are assessed in the light of accelerator mass spectroscopy (AMS) dates provided by Oxford University. The weight of all data taken together suggests that this site still represents the best-dated evidence for the presence of human beings south of the glacial front in the Americas. That evidence indicates that Native Americans were present in southwestern Pennsylvania by 14,000–14,500 years ago.

Résumé

Résumé

Desde la publicación de la primera de más de 50 fechas, todas consistentes entre ellas, provenientes del abrigo rocoso de Meadowcroft (36WH297), ha habido controversia debido alfrecuente reclamo de que lasfechas más antiguas de 11.000 A.C. han sufrido contaminación tanto particular como no-particular. Información concerniente con estos reclamos es examinada a la luz de las fechas generadas por el acelerador espectroscopio de masa (AMS) de la Universidad de Oxford, Inglaterra. El peso de todos los datos tornados en conjunto sugieren que este sitio aún representa la evidencia mejor fechada para la presencia de seres humanos al sur del frente glacial en las Americas. Estas evidencias indican que el hombre ya estaba presente en el sur oeste de Pennsylvania entre 14.000 y 14.500 A.C.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , April 1990 , pp. 348 - 354
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1990

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References

References Cited

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