RADIOCARBON DATING VERSUS THE LEEDS HIPPOPOTAMUS— A CAUTIONARY TALE
- 3 December 1976
- journal article
- Published by Geological Society of London in Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society
- Vol. 41 (2) , 223-230
- https://doi.org/10.1144/pygs.41.2.223
Abstract
SUMMARY: The Hippopotamus remains found near Leeds in 1852 are generally attributed to the Ipswichian (last) interglacial Stage, but certain features suggest that they could have been animals imported in historic times and subsequently buried. It was decided to resolve this issue by radiocarbon assay, which in theory should have been a simple matter. However, three assays on one of the bones produced unacceptable mid-Devensian (mid-last glacial) dates despite increasingly stringent decontamination procedures, the third attempt being supposedly proof against all natural and artificial contamination. A possible explanation for these results is given, and the interglacial age of the remains finally vindicated by an ‘infinite’ radiocarbon date obtained from a molar.This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- PLEISTOCENE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH VERTEBRATE FAUNABiological Reviews, 1974
- On the Discovery of Hippopotamic and other Remains in the Neighbourhood of LeedsProceedings of the Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society, 1849