Education

• Archaeology and Palaeoecology (UG)
• Geography (UG)
• Disability Officer

Module Content

Why as archaeologists or palaeoecologists do we need dates? Such a question may seem obvious but it can be forgotten in the logistical effort of undertaking field work, laboratory analysis and data production. Often it is only towards the end of this process (or in some cases after it!) that thought can actually be given to developing age control for a site. In some instances there is a perfectly valid reason for this – for instance, the site is the first of its kind. Unfortunately, however, there is a view that given just a few age estimates, an approximate chronology can be obtained that will allow the site to be placed in a regional context. For most research today this is no longer adequate. Generally speaking, we know of many environmental events that have occurred within a region or area (particularly in North America and western Europe) but how do we establish the relationship between an event in one area with another somewhere else – were they happening at the same time, was one earlier than the other, did they develop at the same rate? The scientific questions within the 21st century need to be able to address questions such as these. We must now place sites and their sequences precisely into a regional context and attempt to date and correlate sequences between terrestrial, marine and ice records, between archaeological sites and even within sites. Only then can we understand the environmental changes (and stresses) that took place in the past and test the rates of change, whether events were truly synchronous or out of phase across an area or region, and the extent to which they played a role (if any) in determining cultural change.

The dating techniques to be covered in this module include radiocarbon, dendrochronology, tephrochronology and luminescence dating. Lectures will cover the principles of the methods and their applications to chronological questions. Through seminars, students will consider case studies that will highlight pertinent issues in dating the past and that will demonstrate the advantages of integration of multiple dating methods. Practicals will look at techniques from a user's perspective and, wherever possible, give hands-on experience.

Module Objectives

On successful completion of the module the student will have developed:

• An understanding of how the major dating methods used in archaeology and palaeoecology work
• An understanding of the merits and limitations of these techniques in different environments
• The ability to interpret and use data from multiple dating methods
• The ability to evaluate the dating of some controversial and key discoveries reported in recent literature

Lecturers

Dr Gill Plunkett
Mr Dave Brown
Dr Maarten Blaauw
Prof Paula Reimer

Assessment

Skill's taught

• Synthesis of information
• Data interpretation and presentation
• Computer skills
• Oral and written presentation skills
• Time management

Course textbook:

Walker, M.J. (2005) Quaternary Dating Methods. John Wiley, Chichester.