A Progress Report on the Dating of Archaeological Sites by Means of Radioactive Elements

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Abstract
The importance of being able to date accurately the remains of past societies has long been recognized by archaeologists. The problem has always been to find methods that work in the absence of historical records. Recent developments, such as tree-ring dating, have been great contributions, but they are not applicable everywhere. There is still a great need for new methods to supplement and extend the range of present dating procedures. A large field of knowledge so far largely unexplored for possible dating methods is the physics and chemistry of archaeological remains. One area in this field is the study of naturally occurring radioactive elements. Some of these elements have been used by geologists to date ancient rock strata, but applications to archaeological materials have not been made. Recently, however, two possible methods for using radioactive elements to date archaeological remains have been proposed on theoretical grounds. It is not yet definitely known whether they will work, or how well. Further research is necessary.