Radiocarbon Dating: An Archaeological Perspective - Hardcover

Taylor, R.E.; Bar-Yosef, Ofer

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1598745905 ISBN 13: 9781598745900

Publisher: Routledge, 2014

Synopsis

This volume is a major revision and expansion of Taylor’s seminal book Radiocarbon Dating: An Archaeological Perspective. It covers the major advances and accomplishments of the 14C method in archaeology and analyzes factors that affect the accuracy and precision of 14C-based age estimates. In addition to reviewing the basic principles of the method, it examines 14C dating anomalies and means to resolve them, and considers the critical application of 14C data as a dating isotope with special emphasis on issues in Old and New World archaeology and late Quaternary paleoanthropology. This volume, again a benchmark for 14C dating, critically reflects on the method and data that underpins, in so many cases, the validity of the chronologies used to understand the prehistoric archaeological record.

About this title

About the Author:

R. E. Taylor is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside (UCR) and Visiting Professor in the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is also a visiting scientist at the Keck Carbon Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, University of California, Irvine. From 1974 to 2002, he was the director of the UCR Radiocarbon Laboratory and was affiliated with the UCR Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics.

Ofer Bar-Yosef is the MacCurdy Research Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at Harvard University. He was involved in excavating a wide range of prehistoric sites both open-air and caves located in Israel, Sinai (Egypt), Turkey, Czech Republic, Republic of Georgia, and recently in the People's Republic of China. The projects produced information concerning Lower Pleistocene dispersals of early humans, issues related to Neanderthals and modern humans, Upper Paleolithic forager societies, as well as information related to the emergence of farming and herding societies. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA and Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy; he was also awarded the 2013 Cotsen Prize for Life-Time Achievement in World Archaeology.

Review:

"Although listed as the second edition of Taylor's important 1987 publication with the same name, this is a greatly expanded, much more comprehensive coverage of the subject. At the core are extensive treatments of the radiocarbon dating technique and the history of its discovery by physicist Willard Libby and coworkers. Just as important are lengthy, well-referenced chapters of the implications of radiocarbon dating for Old and New World archaeology, referencing general problems in the application of the dating technique and specific examples from the Old and New Worlds. The volume includes a comprehensive current bibliography and is abundantly illustrated with photos, charts, and maps. Clearly, this is an essential volume for colleges and universities with programs in physics, history, and anthropology, drawing the attention of both professionals and students. ... Summing Up: Essential."
--R. B. Clay, emeritus, University of Kentucky

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1598745905
• ISBN 13: 9781598745900
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 404