ESR Dating of Pleistocene Hominid Sites
{'Code': '04040400', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'SBE', 'LongName': 'Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'BCS', 'LongName': 'Division Of Behavioral and Cognitive Sci'}}
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In collaboration with Drs. Schwartz and Grun at McMaster                        University, Dr. Howell will work to improve the ESR dating                      technique, apply it to tooth enamel, and determine the ages of a                series of significant archaeological sites.  The ESR dating                     technique is based on the measurement of energy stored in crystal               lattices which results from the bombardment by environmental                    radioactivity.  The amount of stored energy can be determined by                electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy.  The age of the                     crystal is then determined from the ratio of the accumulated                    energy dose to the dose rate, which is a function of the                        concentration of radioactive elements in the environment.  This                 method can be applied to the tooth enamel of large mammals and is               thus applicable to most Pleistocene prehistoric sites for ages up               to a few million years.                                                                                                                                         This project includes two stages.  In the first, the accuracy of                the technique will be assessed through analyses of materials of                 varying ages which have been dated by other means.  For several                 European sites uranium series dates are available over a time                   span of the last several hundred thousand years.  In East Africa,               sites dating to millions of years have been aged by K-A and these               provide a second controlled context.  In the next stage of the                  research, ESR determinations will be made on undated sites of                   outstanding anthropological significance.                                                                                                                       This research is important for two reasons.  Reliable and widely                applicable dating techniques are lacking for most archaeological                sites over 40,000 years in age (this is the effective time limit                for radiocarbon dating).  If ESR can be established as a workable               technique, many archaeological sites could then be dated and the                information derived from them would be greatly increased.  The                  technique would also be useful to geologists, paleontologists and               other scientists concerned with the past.  Secondly, the specific               sites which Drs. Howell, Schwartz and Grun plan to examine are                  important in their own right.
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{'Name': 'University of California-Berkeley', 'CityName': 'BERKELEY', 'ZipCode': '947101749', 'PhoneNumber': '5106433891', 'StreetAddress': '1608 4TH ST STE 201', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'California', 'StateCode': 'CA', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '12', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'CA12', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'GS3YEVSS12N6', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, THE', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
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{'Code': '1393', 'Text': 'ARCHAEOMETRY'}
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