Uranium Series Dating of Human Skeletal Remains from the Del Mar and Sunnyvale Sites, California

Uranium series analyses of human bone samples from the Del Mar and Sunnyvale sites indicate ages of 11,000 and 8,300 years, respectively. The dates are supported by internal concordancy between thorium-230 and protactinium-231 decay systems. These ages are significantly younger than the estimates of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Bischoff, James L., Rosenbauer, Robert J.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1981
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.213.4511.1003
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.213.4511.1003
Description
Summary:Uranium series analyses of human bone samples from the Del Mar and Sunnyvale sites indicate ages of 11,000 and 8,300 years, respectively. The dates are supported by internal concordancy between thorium-230 and protactinium-231 decay systems. These ages are significantly younger than the estimates of 48,000 and 70,000 years based on amino acid racemization, and indicate that the individuals could derive from the population waves that came across the Bering Strait during the last sea-level low.