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Define Chronology In Archaeology

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Why chronology in Archaeology is important

Before exploring why establishing a chronology is so important, first we must understand why archaeology is a crucial tool for humanity. The importance of archaeology is twofold; it has a spiritual and cultural significance for mankind, while simultaneously giving us the tools to scientifically understand human behaviours and settlement patterns. Archaeologists work to reconstruct history, modelling cultural and behavioural changes over time. This understanding of human behaviour allows us to better predict how our modern societies will change, giving us the chance to better plan for the future. Archaeology lets us learn the lessons of countless civilisations before us and as such can help us figure …show more content…

While both methods help build a chronology for a particular site or for related sites, they fail to place it in a general timeframe. Fortunately a number of tools have been developed to accurately place sites on the global timeline.

Absolute dating techniques

Absolute dating relies on scientific techniques that have been developed through an understanding of the physical or chemical properties of matter to accurately track how long ago artefacts were created and when ancient civilisations lived. There are a number of absolute dating techniques that have been developed, though for the sake of conciseness this essay will focus on radiometric techniques and thermoluminescence.

Radiocarbon dating is regarded as being the backbone of chronometric dating (Mattingly 2009). The technique relies on the fact that isotopes of carbon are created in the upper atmosphere and subsequently make their way into plants that absorb and store this carbon. This carbon then makes it was up the food chain as herbivores consume the plants, and omnivores and carnivores consume the …show more content…

When cross referenced with other dating techniques, radiocarbon dating is an accurate, reliable way to date organic material. It is limited in that it is unable to be used to date inorganic material (Dee et al. 2014).

Fortunately there is a method known as thermoluminescence which can be used to date some inorganic material. In a crystalline structure, background radiation causes electrons to be released from the structure. These electrons accumulate in flawed parts of the structure over time (Schwarcz 2001). When the lattice is heated to 500°C, these electrons get released, and the crystal is effectively zeroed. Because background radiation is practically constant on the scale of millions of years, the accumulated electrons can be used to calculate when the material was last heated to 500°C (Saneda

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