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Electron spin resonance dating in paleoanthropology
Author(s) -
Grün Rainer
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
evolutionary anthropology: issues, news, and reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1520-6505
pISSN - 1060-1538
DOI - 10.1002/evan.1360020504
Subject(s) - paleoanthropology , uranium , argon , absolute dating , electron paramagnetic resonance , range (aeronautics) , archaeology , series (stratigraphy) , geology , mineralogy , paleontology , history , atomic physics , materials science , physics , nuclear magnetic resonance , nuclear physics , radiocarbon dating , composite material
Many archeological and paleoanthropological sites cannot be dated by well established and common dating techniques such as uranium series (U‐series) or argon‐argon ( 40 Ar/ 39 Ar) because of the lack of materials that are suitable for these techniques. Most sites, however, contain bones and teeth, and the latter can be used to obtain electron spin resonance (ESR) age estimates. The theoretical age range of ESR dating accuracy lies between a few thousand and more than a million years. In practice, continuing uranium accumulation increases the uncertainty of ESR age assessments in such a way that most age assignments beyond 300,000 years are very uncertain.