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Science 21 February 1986:
Vol. 231. no. 4740, pp. 830 - 833
DOI: 10.1126/science.231.4740.830
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Articles

Cation-Ratio and Accelerator Radiocarbon Dating of Rock Varnish on Mojave Artifacts and Landforms

RONALD I. DORN 1, D. B. BAMFORTH 2, T. A. CAHILL 3, J. C. DOHRENWEND 4, B. D. TURRIN 4, D. J. DONAHUE 5, A. J. T. JULL 5, A. LONG 5, M. E. MACKO 6, E. B. WEIL 6, D. S. WHITLEY 7, and T. H. ZABEL 8

1 Department of Geography, Texas Tech University, Lubbock 79409.
2 Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara 93106.
3 Crocker Nuclear Laboratory, University of California, Davis 95616.
4 U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA 94025.
5 NSF Regional Facility for Radioisotope Analysis, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721.
6 Applied Conservation Technology, 14340 Bolsa Chica Avenue, Suite E, Westminster, CA 92683.
7 Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles 90024.
8 IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598.

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+ + Ca2+/Ti4+ 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.

Submitted on March 15, 1985
Accepted on September 6, 1985


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Ambiguities in Direct Dating of Rock Surfaces Using Radiocarbon Measurements.
W. Beck, D. J. Donahue, A. J. Jull, G. Burr, W. S. Broecker, G. Bonani, I. Hajdas, E. Malotki;, and R. I. Dorn; (1998)
Science 280, 2132-2139
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Rate of Sequence Divergence Estimated from Restriction Maps of Mitochondrial DNAs from Papua New Guinea.
M. Stoneking, K. Bhatia, and A.C. Wilson (1986)
Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol 51, 433-439
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