Archaeological Methods
and
Dating Techniques

In the news . . .

• Archaeologists date earliest known occupation of North America -- Phys.Org (16 July 2020)
  
  
• Revolutionary Archaeology: Entire Roman City Revealed Without Any Digging -- SciTechDaily (14 June 2020)
  
  
• New Papua New Guinea research solves archaeological mysteries -- Phys.Org (04 June 2020)
  
  
• Archaeologists have a lot of dates wrong for North American indigenous history – but new techniques are correcting it -- Phys.Org (29 April 2020)
  
  
• Tree-rings reveal secret clocks that could reset key dates across the ancient world -- ScienceDaily (17 August 2016)
  
  
• Facial Reconstruction Made of Bronze Age Woman 'Ava' -- BBC News (29 July 2016)
  
  
• Solving the Mesopotamia Timeline Puzzle With Tree-Rings and Radiocarbon Research -- ScienceDaily (19 July 2016)
  
  
• Archaeologists Develop New Technology to Read Ancient Documents -- ScienceNordic (22 December 2015)
  
  
• 3D Models Provide a Credible Stimulus to Current Archaeological Thought, Practice -- ScienceDaily (28 October 2015)
  
  
• Mysteries of the Black Death, Shroud of Turin, and Origins of Early Americans Solved With DNA -- Forbes (27 October 2015)
  
  
• Is It a Fake? DNA Testing Deepens Mystery of Shroud of Turin -- LiveScience (23 October 2015)
  
  
• Ancestry Can Be Determined By Fingerprints -- Science 2.0 (29 September 2015)
  
  
• Meet the Man Who Gives Ancient Human Ancestors Their Faces -- National Geographic News (14 September 2015)
  
  
• Explainer: How Do Archaeologists Discover Forgotten Ancient Monuments? -- Phys.org (11 September 2015)
  
  
• Into the Light:: How Lidar Is Replacing Radar as the Archaeologist’s Map Tool of Choice -- Guardian (20 June 2015)
  
  
• Face of Tehran’s 7 Millennia Old Woman Reconstructed -- MEHR (17 June 2015)
  
  
• Using Lasers to Reveal the Secrets of Lost Civilizations -- Wired (20 May 2015)
  
  
• Touch-Free Archaeology Reveals History With Lasers, Drones -- National Geographic News (03 April 2015)
  
  
• Digital Archaeology Changes Exploration of the Past -- ScienceDaily (15 October 2014)
  
  
• New Research Will Allow More Reliable Dating of Major Past Events -- ScienceDaily (13 December 2013)
  
  
• Drone Mapping the Pyramids of Zuleta in Ecuador -- LiveScience (29 October 2013)
  
  
• Incredible Technology: How Today's Archaeologists Kick Indiana Jones' Butt -- LiveScience (30 September 2013)
  
  
• New Ten Second Sourcing Technology Set to Transform Archaeology -- ScienceDaily (09 September 2013)
  
  
• Indiana Jones Meets George Jetson: High-Tech Microplasma Source May Revolutionize How Archaeologists Date Objects -- ScienceDaily (06 September 2013)
  
  
• Decomposed organs reveal skeletons’ last days -- ScienceNordic (14 August 2013)
  
  
• New Archaeological 'High Definition' Sourcing Sharpens Understanding of the Past -- ScienceDaily (22 May 2013)
  
  
• High Definition Sourcing Sharpens Understanding of the Past -- Past Horizons (22 May 2013)
  
  
• 'Ciudad Blanca' found? Scientists share images of lost city in Honduras [LiDAR] -- NBC News (15 May 2013)
  
  
• GIS: An Emerging Tool to Study the Past -- Past Horizons (10 May 2013)
  
  
• Turin Shroud 'Is Not a Medieval Forgery' -- Telegraph (28 March 2013)
  
  
• Study traces cycles of growth and collapse in social networks -- Past Horizons (25 March 2013)
  
  
• Fish Based Diets Cause Archaeological Dating Problems -- Past Horizons (25 March 2013)
  
  
• Fish Corrupt Carbon-14 Dating -- ScienceNordic (14 March 2013)
  
  
• Growth Rings from the Days of the Black Death -- ScienceNordic (12 March 2013)
  
  
• Technology Brings New Life to the Study of Diseases in Old Bones -- ScienceDaily (22 October 2012)
  
  
• Japanese Lake provides new benchmark for Radiocarbon dates -- Past Horizons (21 October 2012)
  
  
• Carbon Dating Gets a Reset -- Scientific American (18 October 2012)
  
  
• Ice Age Polarity Reversal Was Global Event: Extremely Brief Reversal of Geomagnetic Field, Climate Variability, and Super Volcano -- ScienceDaily (16 October 2012)
  
  
• Tree Rings Tell Tales Of Ancient Fires And Climate -- NPR (234 August 2012)
  
  
• Tree Rings Suggest Roman World WasWarmer Than Thought -- NewScientist (10 July 2012)
  
  
• Archaeology: Date with History -- Nature (02 May 2012)
  
  
• Handprints May Give Away Height, Gender -- DiscoveryNews (02 April 2012)
  
  
• Satellites Expose 8,000 Years of Civilization -- Nature (19 March 2012)
  
  
• Googling the Past: How I Uncovered Prehistoric Remains from My Office -- Past Horizons (19 March 2012)
  
  
• Roman Glass Informs Radioactive Future -- Past Horizons (18 March 2012)
  
  
• Using Modern Tools to Reconstruct Ancient Life -- New York Times (09 January 2012)
  
  
• Human, Artificial Intelligence Join Forces to Pinpoint Fossil Locations -- ScienceDaily (21 November 2011)
  
  
• Scientists Digitise Our Prehistoric Past -- Past Horizons (27 October 2011)
  
  
• Face to face with a Mesolithic boy [Norway] -- Past Horizons (21 October 2011)
  
  
• Conservation team develops new technique for dating silk -- Past Horizons (13 September 2011)
  
  
• Dating Stone Tools -- New York Times (12 September 2011)
  
  
• Tree Rings Reveal Forest Fires from Hundreds of Years Ago -- ScienceDaily (08 September 2011)
  
  
• Obsidian Artifacts Point to Ice-Age Mariners in Prehistoric Greece -- Past Horizons (27 August 2011)
  
  
• Gould's Skulls: Is Bias Inevitable in Science? -- NewScientist (25 July 2011)
  • The Mismeasure of [Samuel George] Morton -- Jason Lewis (07 July 2011)
    
    
• The Mismeasure of Science: Stephen Jay Gould versus Samuel George Morton on Skulls and Bias -- PLoS Biology (07 June 2011)
  
  
• Technology to Throw New Light On Ancient Artifacts -- ScienceDaily (20 July 2011)
  • Technology to throw new light on ancient artefacts -- Past Horizons (22 July 2011)
    
    
• Google Earth Archaeology -- Past Horizons (20 July 2011)
  
  
• Sacks of Human Waste Reveal Secrets of Ancient Rome -- National Geographic News (23 June 2011)
  
  
• Archaeology's Tech Revolution Since Indiana Jones -- Live Science (10 June 2011)
  
  
• iPad Helps Archaeologists -- Science Daily (08 April 2011)
  
  
• Giant Archaeological Trove Found in Google Earth -- New Scientist (04 February 2011)

• Acoustic Archaeology Yielding Mind-Tripping Tricks -- Discovery News (16 November 2010)
  
  
• Advanced Geographical Models Bring New Perspective to Study of Archaeology [computational modeling] -- ScienceDaily (13 May 2010)
  
  
• Billion-Pixel Image Tool Probes Science Mysteries -- National Geographic News (12 November 2010)
  
  
• Giant Archaeological Trove Found in Google Earth -- New Scientist (04 February 2011)
  
  
• Record of Time: An Introduction to the Nature of Fossils and Paleoanthropological Dating Methods -- Dennis O'Neil (tutorial)
  
  
• Geologic Time: The Story of a Changing Earth -- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
  
  
  • Introduction to Dating Methods
    
    
• Dating Tecniques -- EMuseum
  
  
• Digital Research Tools -- Lisa Spiro, Digital Media Center, Rice University
  
  
• 'Jesus-Era' Burial Cloth Casts Doubt on Turin Shroud -- Discovery News (17 December 2009)
  
  
• The Nature of Science and the Scientific Method -- Geological Society of America
  
  
• New Dating Technique Could Establish Age of the Turin Shroud -- Telegraph (24 March 2010)
  
  
• Paleoclimatology -- National Climatic Data Center
  
  
• Phytoliths: An Archaeobotanist's Best Friend -- The Field Book Project, Smthsonian National Museum of Natural History
  
  
• Reading Zip Codes of 3,500-Year-Old Letters: Non-Destructive X-Ray Scanning of Archaeological Finds -- ScienceDaily (06 August 2010)
  
  
• Toolkit: How One Archaeologist Gears Up for Digs -- Wired (26 April 2011)
  
  
• Trampling Skews Artifact Dates by Thousands of Years? -- National Geographic News (29 September 2010)
  
  
• Underground Peep Show Reveals Artifacts of Life -- Live Science (23 September 2010)
  
  
• Virtual Dating -- Virtual Courseware
  
  
• webGURU ["interactive web-based tool intended to assist undergraduates navigate the hurdles of an undergraduate research experience"] -- National Science Foundation and Northeastern University

• Giant Archaeological Trove Found in Google Earth -- New Scientist (04 February 2011)
  
  
• What is Archaeometry / Archaeological Science? -- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)

top of page  A-Z index

Dendrochronology

• Archaeologists Date World's Oldest Timber Constructions -- ScienceDaily (20 December 2012)
  
  
• How Tree Rings Reveal Climate Secrets (Infographic) -- LiveScience (12 February 2015)
  
  
• ULTIMATE TREE-RING WEB PAGES -- Henri D. Grissino-Mayer
  
  
• International network of dendrochronology -- Claudia Gruenwald
  
  
• What is dendrochronology? -- Claudia Gruenwald
  
  
• Scientists to Unearth Ice Age Secrets from Preserved Tree Rings -- ScienceDaily (06 April 2010)
  
  
• Solving the Mesopotamia Timeline Puzzle With Tree-Rings and Radiocarbon Research -- ScienceDaily (19 July 2016)
  
  
• The Tree-Ring Society
  
  
• The Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research -- The University of Arizona
  
  
• Dendrochronologia -- Italian Institute of Dendrochronology
  
  
• The Bibliography of Dendrochronology -- Henri D. Grissino-Mayer

• For information on DNA see the DNA page

• see Forensics page

top of page  A-Z index

Geological Analysis

• The Dynamic Earth -- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
  
  
• Textbook: Key Concepts in Geomorphology -- University of Vermont

• Dental Microwear -- Peter Ungar, U. of Arkansas

top of page  A-Z index

Obsidian Hydration

• Obsidian Hydration Analysis -- Redwood Valley, California, USA

top of page  A-Z index

Paleomagnetic Dating

• North American Archaeomagnetism -- Stacey Lengyel
  
  
  • PALEOMAGNETIC TIME SCALE
    
    
• paleomagnetism analysis -- USGS

top of page  A-Z index

Palynology

• Palynology -- American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists
  
  
• Palynology -- Forensic -- Dr. Terry J. Hutter
  
  
• Palynology at The University of Arizona -- Owen Davis

top of page  A-Z index

Radioacarbon Dating

• Radiocarbon WEB-info -- Waikato and Oxford Universities

• Fundamentals -- Canadian Archaeological Radiocarbon Database
  
  
• 'Jesus-Era' Burial Cloth Casts Doubt on Turin Shroud -- Discovery News (17 December 2009)
  
  
• Virtual Dating -- Virtual Courseware

top of page  A-Z index

Reconstruction of Fossils

• Bringing hominids back to life -- Past Horizons (14 January 2011)
  
  
• FACIAL RECONSTRUCTION -- Gay Malin
  
  
• Virtual MorphometryVirtual Morphometry

top of page  A-Z index

Remote Sensing

• Archaeology -- NASA
  
  
• Giant Archaeological Trove Found in Google Earth -- New Scientist (04 February 2011)
  

top of page  A-Z index

Seriation

top of page  A-Z index

Surface Surveys

• Giant Archaeological Trove Found in Google Earth -- New Scientist (04 February 2011)