Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T18:48:13.823Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Present Status of Chemical Methods for Dating Prehistoric Bone

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

S. F. Cook  and
R. F. Heizer
S. F. Cook
Affiliation:
Department of Physiology, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley
R. F. Heizer
Affiliation:
Department of Physiology, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

It is now over half a century since Carnot (1893) published his pioneer work dealing with the chemical analysis of fossil bone. In the intervening decades the problem has been investigated by occasional students who have approached the field from different directions. Recently interest in chemical methods has been intensified and the attention of archaeologists has been brought to a focus by the attempt of Oakley (1951) to utilize the fluorine content of human bones as a criterion of age. Also during the past few years a joint project has been pursued by the Departments of Anthropology and Physiology at the University of California (Berkeley) through the generosity of the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. Thus a considerable effort has been expended, and a reasonable volume of results are on record, with reference to the chemical changes which occur in fossil bone. At the present time it appears that a general survey of this work is in order, together with an appraisal of its value as a tool for the archaeologist and palaeontologist. Fairly comprehensive listings of published works on the subject of bone fossilization occur in Heizer (1950, 1952).

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , April 1953 , pp. 354 - 358
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1953

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barber, H. 1939. Untersuchungen iiber die Chemische Veranderung von Knochen bei der Fossilization. Palaeobiologica, Vol. 7, pp. 217–35. Vienna and Leipzig.Google Scholar
Carnot, A. 1893. Recherches sur la composition generale et la teneur en fluor des os modernes et des os fossiles de differents ages. Annales des Mines, Memoires, Ser. 9, Vol. 3, pp. 155–95. Paris.Google Scholar
Cook, S. F. 1951. The Fossilization of Human Bone: Calcium, Phosphate, and Carbonate. University of CaU ifornia Publications in American Archeology and Ethnology, Vol. 40, No. 6. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Cook, S. F. and Heizer, R. F. n.d. The Chemical Analysis of Fossil Bone: Individual Variations. Manuscript.Google Scholar
Cook, S. F. and Heizer, R. F. 1952. The Fossilization of Bone: Organic Components and Water. University of California Archaeological Survey, Report No. 17. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Gangl, I. 1936. Alterbestimmung Fossiler Knochenfunde auf chemischen Weg. Oesterich. Chemicker-Zeitung, Vol. 39, pp. 79–82. Vienna.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. 1950. On the Methods of Chemical Analysis of Bone as an Aid to Prehistoric Culture Chronology. University of California Archaeological Survey, Report No. 7, Paper No. 3. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. 1952. Long Range Dating in Archaeology. In “Anthropology Today.” Pp. 3ȓ42. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. and Cook, S. F. 1949. The Archaeology of Central California: A Comparative Analysis of Human Bone from Nine Sites. University of California Anthropological Records, Vol. 12, No. 2. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. and Cook, S. F. 1952. Fluorine and Other Chemical Tests of Some North American Human and Animal Bones. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Vol. 10, pp. 289–304. Washington.Google Scholar
Jaffe, E. B. and Sherwood, A. M. 1951. Physical and Chemical Comparison of Modern and Fossil Tooth and Bone Material. U.S. Geological Survey, Tem-149. Oak Ridge.Google Scholar
Libby, W. F. 1952. Radiocarbon Dating. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Oakley, K. P. 1951. The Flaorine-dating Method. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, Vol. 5 (for 1949), pp. 44–52. New York.Google Scholar
Oakley, K. P. 1952. Dating Fossil Human Remains, In “Anthropology Today.” Pp. 43ȓ56. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Pin, P. 1950. Contribution de la Biochimie a 1'etude des os Prehistoriques. Bulletin, et Mem., Soc. d'Anthrop. de Paris, Ser. 10, Vol. 1, pp. 137–38. Paris.Google Scholar
Thunberg, T. 1947. The Citric Acid Content of Older, especially Medieval and Prehistoric Bone Material. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, Vol. 14, Fasc. 3. Stockholm.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treganza, A. and Malamud, C. G. 1950. The Topanga culture; first season's excavation of the Tank site, 1947. University of Calif’ ornia Anthropological Records, Vol. 12, No. 4. Berkeley.Google Scholar