Pages 37-49

Bone from a Dry Sea Pages 41-49

Return to History 8 Archaeology Bone From a Dry Sea

Created by Frances Hellums

Summary

Pages 41-49 in "Bone from a Dry Sea", start with Vinny waking up and really go over her morning. It starts out with her waking up and exploring the camp a little more in the day light, but it proceeds to go into an in depth conversation she soon has with her father about a book that she had read about the theory that we, humans, evolved from half sea animals. This theory is dismissed by her dad when he states, "I wouldn't know. I'm only a taphonomist" (pp.44 Dickinson) and so goes the conversation. Later in this chapter Vinny observes a young man named Nikki as he draws a picture of a fossil. Though when this chapter ends, Vinny has decided to spend the day observing Dr. Hamiska and Dr. Wessler as they go out to a site to take samples of some tuffs.

Geographic Imagination

Geographic Imagination is the way that we view and interpret the world around us based on our own understandings, knowledge and perceptions. This a lot of the time, leads negative, yet sometimes positive, views and biases towards other places, things, and other groups especially. Our Geographic Imagination is passed down to us from generation as we hear thins that we accept as truth. An example of this would be that we always here things like "thats the wrong side of the tracks" or "Thats a bad part of town". Often we hear things like that said by our peers or other members of our accepted "group" and naturally we take them as truth. Yet all of this is just in our mind. This can also be a large cause of conflict, especially when it concerns Ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is the belief that "Our" way of thinking is the only and best way of thinking. An example of this would be in the Middle East, the fight over Jerusalem, which each side believing that it is their right to the land, no one will ever agree.

Dating

Relative Dating

Relative dating is the a technique that basically compares the artifact found to all the other artifacts found in that area to get abroad idea of its age. The draw back of this is that it is never going to give you a specific date or year.

Stratigraphy

Stratigraphy is a form of date that relies on the Law of superposition. This is a simple and easy law, it basically states that lower is older. Meaning the lower down into the ground it was, the older it will be.

Style Analysis

Style Analysis is pretty self-explanatory. This technique is to study an artifact such as a pot or brush and and examine its style, when it might have been popular, and what it is made of. Because although the function of something might stay the same over time, the style will not.

Absolute Dating

The most accurate of all! But although this is the most accurate of all dating methods it does usually require one bit of the artifact to be destroyed which is never good. There are 3 main types of this...

Radiocarbon Dating

This method of absolute dating assumes that all living things absorb carbon, ordinary carbon, C12, and radioactive carbon, C14, into their living tissue while their alive. When that thing dies, that carbon starts to decay at a set rate already know by scientists through previous experiments. So scientists can test how much carbon is still in the dead tissue and from that information determine how long the carbon has been decaying and thus how old it is.

Uranium - Lead Dating

This is essentially the same as Radiocarbon dating, except that it is with rocks. When rocks form by a volcanic reaction or other cataclysmic event they contain contain radioactive substance. this again starts to decay and by the same methods scientists can get a date

Luminescence Dating

This method is usually used on pottery, and although precise, it is also very expensive. When artifacts are made from crystalline materials they can be subjected to intense heat and will burn with differing colors of flame.

To learn more about Relative and Absolute dating methods watch this video!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM7vZ-9bBc0&feature=related

Citations

Dickinson, Peter. A Bone from a Dry Sea. New York: Laurel-Leaf Books, 1992. Print.

Manual pg. 2

http://www.archaeologyexpert.co.uk/ArchaeologicalDating.html