Episode 1- How we know: The Science of Dating
From Prehistory for Beginners · 00:23:04
Show by Petrus Groenewald
Episode 1: How Old Is It? The Science of DatingAbove the skull and skeleton known as Omo I in Ethiopia lies a layer of volcanic ash more than two metres thick, too fine-grained to date directly. In 2022 a team matched its chemistry to an eruption 350 kilometres away and dated the volcano instead, giving a minimum age of 233 000 years, give or take 22 000. The episode treats every dating method as a clock with a start event, a steady tick, a dial that can be read and a link to the thing you care about. It explains radiocarbon, luminescence and uranium-thorium dating, why every date carries a margin, and the three kinds of date: direct, bracketing and association.Voices are AI-generated. Made mainly for my own education and shared for anyone who wants to follow along. Where the evidence is thin or contested, the episode says so.
More episodes of Prehistory for Beginners
More episodes
- 01. Myths & Conspiracies - Primitive Humans: What Life Was Really Like
- 00 Prehistory for Beginners Intro
- Episode 01: Lower Palaeolithic - Before the Clock Starts
- Episode 02: Middle Palaeolithic - Many Humans, One Continent
- Episode 3: Middle Palaeolithic - Ochre and Eggshell
- The Human Family
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