3 Recent Advances in Archaeological Geology

Sunday, 31 October 2010
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Room 302

PRECLOVIS SITES THAT ARE PALEONTOLOGICAL NOT ARCHAEOLOGICAL: URANIUM SERIES DATING OF PROBOSCIDEAN TOOTH ENAMEL FROM THE HOT SPRINGS MAMMOTH, WACO MAMMOTH, AND THE BONITA SPRING MASTODON SITES

Paper number: 3-14
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 11:15 AM – 11:30 AM

Authors

Abstract

During 35 years of establishing chronologies for Pleistocene megafauna I have encounter archaeologists and paleontologists who thought they may have human related artifacts associated with proboscideans. Uranium Series Dating of the tooth enamel from the Hot Springs Mammoth, the Waco Mammoth, and the Bonita Springs Mastodon sites has shown that these proboscideans are too old for a reasonable belief that they are associated with early North American human populations.
Locality Hoped for age Uranium Series Age Age Range Years BP
Hot Springs Mammoth Site, S. Dakota 10 to 30,000 years 150,000 years BP 140 to 160,000
Waco Mammoth Site, Texas 10 to 30,000 years 73,000 years BP 70 to 76,000
Bonita Springs Mastodon site, Florida 7 to 12,000 year >300,000 years BP N/A

The excavators of the Hot Springs and Waco Mammoth sites dispute these results preferring a younger radiocarbon chronology. The Bonita Springs Mastodon was repatriated for reburial with non-associated human remains found there. It should be noted that most critics of this method consider Uranium Series Dating of tooth enamel to be at least partially an open system for uranium and consider Uranium Series Dates on enamel to be minimum ages.