Historical dates for neolithic sites of southeast europe

Direct comparison of the radiocarbon contents of charcoal samples with those of bristlecone pine wood samples dated by tree rings shows that a full-fledged Neolithic with pottery and all the domesticated animals, except the horse, was present in southeast Europe as early as the 65th century B.C. The chronologies for the stratigraphic sequences of the settlements of Achilleion and Anza, based on a total of 37 La Jolla radiocarbon measurements, cover almost 1000 years.     

Olmec civilization, veracruz, Mexico: dating of the san lorenzo phase

Archeological excavations at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, Veracruz, show that the Olmec sculptures of this zone are associated with the San Lorenzo phase, which can be placed in the Early Formative period (1500-800 B.C.) on the basis of ceramic comparisons. Five of six radiocarbon dates for the San Lorenzo phase fall within the 1200-900 B.C. span. The San Lorenzo phase therefore marks the beginning of Olmec civilization, and the sites forming the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan group represent the oldest civilized communities known in Mexico or Central America.     

DNA from pre-Clovis human coprolites in Oregon, North America

The timing of the first human migration into the Americas and its relation to the appearance of the Clovis technological complex in North America at about 11,000 to 10,800 radiocarbon years before the present (14C years B.P.) remains contentious. We establish that humans were present at Paisley 5 Mile Point Caves, in south-central Oregon, by 12,300 14C years B.P., through the recovery of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from coprolites, directly dated by accelerator mass spectrometry. The mtDNA corresponds to Native American founding haplogroups A2 and B2. The dates of the coprolites are >1000 14C years earlier than currently accepted dates for the Clovis complex.     

Redefining the age of Clovis: implications for the peopling of the Americas

The Clovis complex is considered to be the oldest unequivocal evidence of humans in the Americas, dating between 11,500 and 10,900 radiocarbon years before the present (14C yr B.P.). Adjusted 14C dates and a reevaluation of the existing Clovis date record revise the Clovis time range to 11,050 to 10,800 14C yr B.P. In as few as 200 calendar years, Clovis technology originated and spread throughout North America. The revised age range for Clovis overlaps non-Clovis sites in North and South America. This and other evidence imply that humans already lived in the Americas before Clovis.     

Early human cultural and skeletal remains from guitarrero cave, northern peru

An early man site in highland Peru yielded a rich cultural assemblage in stratigraphic association with faunal remains, botanical remains, and campfire remnants that furnished secure radiocarbon dates. A human mandible and teeth, showing interesting patterns of occlusal wear, were found in a stratum dated by a charcoal sample to 10,610 B.C., the oldest such date in South America.     

Megafauna and man from ayacucho, highland peru

Crude unifacial tools, choppers, and a burin have been uncovered in association with megafauna in a buried stratum that was radiocarbon dated at 12,200 B.C. in a cave in highland Peru. The tool types, megafauna, and date are significant with regard to the problem of the antiquity of man and his culture in the New World.     

Paleoindians in beringia: evidence from arctic alaska

Excavations at the Mesa site in arctic Alaska provide evidence for a Paleoindian occupation of Beringia, the region adjacent to the Bering Strait. Eleven carbon-14 dates on hearths associated with Paleoindian projectile points place humans at the site between 9,730 and 11,660 radiocarbon years before present (years B.P.). The presence of Paleoindians in Beringia at these times challenges the notion that Paleoindian cultures arose exclusively in mid-continental North America. The age span of Paleoindians at the Mesa site overlaps with dates from two other cultural complexes in interior Alaska. A hiatus in the record of human occupation occurs between 10,300 and 11,000 years B.P. Late Glacial climatic fluctuations may have made northern Alaska temporarily unfavorable for humans and spurred their southward dispersal.     

Radiocarbon dating of coastal peat, barrow, alaska

A buried, frozen section of peat from sea level yielded radiocarbon dates between 700 and 2600 B.C.; it suggests burial by a transgressing sea.     

An early center of bovine husbandry in southeast Asia

Non Nok Tha is a prehistoric site in northeast Thailand. The radiocarbon dates suggest that it was first occupied by at least 3500 B.C., and possibly as early as 5000 B.C. The deepest levels contain unexpectedly early evidence for rice cultivation and bronze casting. Multivariate and cultural analyses of the bovine bones suggest that the first inhabitants raised domesticated cattle. This is among the earliest evidence for bovine domestication known.     

Matanchen complex: new radiocarbon dates on early coastal adaptation in west Mexico

Samples of marine shell from archeological context on the coast of Nayarit, Mexico, have given radiocarbon determinations of 1810 +/- 80 B.C., 2000 +/- 100 B.C., and 2100 +/- 100 B.C. Even with maximum correction for upwelling these are the earliest dates for coastal occupation in West Mexico north of Acapulco, Guerrero. Analysis of the midden contents has provided new insights regarding early coastal adaptation.     

Clovis age Western Stemmed projectile points and human coprolites at the Paisley Caves

The Paisley Caves in Oregon record the oldest directly dated human remains (DNA) in the Western Hemisphere. More than 100 high-precision radiocarbon dates show that deposits containing artifacts and coprolites ranging in age from 12,450 to 2295 (14)C years ago are well stratified. Western Stemmed projectile points were recovered in deposits dated to 11,070 to 11,340 (14)C years ago, a time contemporaneous with or preceding the Clovis technology. There is no evidence of diagnostic Clovis technology at the site. These two distinct technologies were parallel developments, not the product of a unilinear technological evolution. "Blind testing" analysis of coprolites by an independent laboratory confirms the presence of human DNA in specimens of pre-Clovis age. The colonization of the Americas involved multiple technologically divergent, and possibly genetically divergent, founding groups.     

Cation-ratio and accelerator radiocarbon dating of rock varnish on mojave artifacts and landforms

The first accelerator radiocarbon dates of rock varnishes are reported along with potassium/argon ages of lava flows and conventional radiocarbon dates of pluvial lake shorelines, in an empirical calibration of rock varnish K(+) + Ca(2+)/Ti(4+) ratios with age in the Mojave Desert, eastern California. This calibration was used to determine the cation-ratio dates of 167 artifacts. Although cation-ratio dating is an experimental method, some dates suggest human occupation of the Mojave Desert in the late Pleistocene.     

Flake tools stratified below paleo-Indian artifacts

In northwest Missouri, Lithic stage flake tools struck from prepared cores have been excavated underlying a Paleo-Indian fluted point assemblage. These assemblages were in two different loesses of the last glaciation. Thermoluminescent analysis of stone tools dates the Paleo-Indian occupations at 8690 +/- 1000 B.C. and 12,855 +/- 1500 B.C.; the Lithic stage occupations must be older than 13,000 B.C. on the basis of geologic correlation, lithic analysis, and cultural stratigraphy.     

New dates on northern yukon artifacts: holocene not upper pleistocene

New radiocarbon dates on four artifacts that were thought to provide evidence for human occupation of the Yukon Territory during the upper Pleistocene indicate that all four are of late Holocene age. The original radiocarbon age obtained for one artifact (the so-called "Old Crow flesher") was in error by almost 26,000 years.     

Eighth millennium pottery from a prehistoric shell midden in the brazilian Amazon

The earliest pottery yet found in the Western Hemisphere has been excavated from a prehistoric shell midden near Santarém in the lower Amazon, Brazil. Calibrated accelerator radiocarbon dates on charcoal, shell, and pottery and a thermoluminescence date on pottery from the site fall from about 8000 to 7000 years before the present. The early fishing village is part of a long prehistoric trajectory that contradicts theories that resource poverty limited cultural evolution in the tropics.     

Tumbaga object from the early classic period, found at altun ha, british honduras (belize)

Excavations at Altun Ha, British Honduras (Belize), have yielded a claw-shaped bead of tumbaga, a gold-copper alloy, occurring as part of an Early Classic offering. Stratigraphic evidence plus radiocarbon dates place the cache at or before A.D. 500, and stylistic elements indicate a source for the bead in the Coclé culture of central Panama.     

Carbon-14 dates at grande pile: correlation of land and sea chronologies

Sixteen radiocarbon dates extending back to 70,000 years provide a chronology for the continuous continental pollen record of Grande Pile. This record reflects climatic changes over the last 140,000 years in northeastern France. The cold period initiating the Middle Weichselian, dated previously at 55,000 years, is dated at 70,000 years before the present (B.P.) at Grande Pile. This event is marked by the disappearance of deciduous forests at this site. The Early Weichselian is placed before 70,000 years B.P. A correlation with the oxygen isotope stages from oceanic records is demonstrated until 70,000 years B.P. and attempted beyond.     

Early thai bronze: analysis and new dates

Electron probe analysis of the earliest metal found at the northeastern Thailand site of Non Nok Tha indicates that it is a bronze containing 4 to 6 percent tin. Recent thermoluminescence dates substantiate the presence of a well-developed bronze technology prior to 2300 B.C. and suggest a date of about 2700 to 2500 B.C. for the first appearance of bronze at the site.