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Human Evolution Exam 1 Taphonomy
N/A
14
Anthropology
Undergraduate 3
10/18/2012

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Cards

Term
Challenges to taphonomy
Definition
•Stratigraphic complexity

•Lack of datable material

•Sediments, not fossils/artifacts dated

•Some techniques still controversial

•Even in best-case scenario, have error term
Term
taphonomy
Definition
study of decaying organisms over time and how they become fossilized
Term
diagenesis
Definition
The process of chemical and physical change in deposited sediment during its conversion to rock
Term
fossilization
Definition
the process of fossilizing a plant or animal that existed in some earlier age; the process of being turned to stone.
Term
relative dating
Definition
based on stratigraphy
Term
radiometric dating is a form of
Definition
absolute dating
Term
Dendochronology
Definition
dating by growth of tree rings
Term
Varves
Definition
thin sedimentary layers formed annually by seasonal climatic changes. Usually found in glacial lake deposits
Term
Radiocarbon (C14)
Definition
is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 (14C) to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years
Term
Thermoluminescence
Definition
either heated (lava, ceramics) or exposed to sunlight (sediments).
Term
Electron-spin Resonance
Definition
dating of teeth
Term
Potassium-Argon
Definition
The quickly cooled lavas that make nearly ideal samples
Term
Uranium-series
Definition
the age of calcium carbonate materials such as speleothem or coral.[
Term
Fission-track
Definition
analyses of the damage trails, or tracks, left by fission fragments in certain uranium-bearing minerals and glasses
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