Revision summary
Chronometric dating gives an age in years; relative dating only orders remains. Radiocarbon dates organic material to about 50,000 years and requires calibration. K–Ar/Ar–Ar dates volcanic layers associated with early hominins. TL dates last heating; OSL dates last light exposure. U-series and ESR extend the cave and tooth record. Every date belongs to a sample and event and must fit association and stratigraphy.
Model answer
Introduction
Chronometric dating assigns an age in calendar years, with an error range, to an archaeological event or deposit. Unlike relative dating, which only orders layers or artefacts, it uses a measurable physical clock. No method dates “the site” in the abstract: it dates a particular sample and event.
Body
Principal clocks
- Radiocarbon (Willard Libby): decay of carbon-14 dates once-living charcoal, bone collagen or seed, normally to about 50,000 years. Calibration against tree rings is essential; contamination and reservoir effects can mislead.
- Potassium–argon and argon–argon: decay of potassium-40 dates volcanic minerals from roughly 100,000 years into geological time. Tuffs bracketing Olduvai and East African hominins are classic applications; the dated eruption is not automatically the fossil's death.
- Uranium-series: radioactive disequilibrium dates carbonates, corals, cave speleothems and sometimes teeth, broadly from thousands to several hundred thousand years. Open-system uranium movement is the chief danger.
- Luminescence: thermoluminescence dates the last heating of pottery or burnt flint; optically stimulated luminescence dates the last sunlight exposure of quartz or feldspar sediment. Incomplete zeroing produces old ages.
- Electron-spin resonance: trapped electrons in tooth enamel or carbonate can reach into the Middle Pleistocene, but dose-rate reconstruction is demanding.
- Dendrochronology, pioneered by A. E. Douglass, gives annual precision where preserved wood and a regional master sequence exist.
Indian prehistory often combines radiocarbon for Neolithic charcoal, as at Mehrgarh-related contexts, with luminescence for older alluvial Palaeolithic deposits. A secure date also requires association, stratigraphy and preferably a second clock.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD
S[Sample and event] --> M{Choose clock}
M --> C[C-14: organic death]
M --> K[K-Ar: volcanic eruption]
M --> L[TL or OSL: heat or light reset]
M --> U[U-series or ESR]
C --> X[Calibrate and cross-check]
K --> X
L --> X
U --> X
Conclusion
Chronometric dating transformed prehistory from a sequence into a timescale. Its anthropological value lies in matching the clock to the sample and behavioural event, then testing the result against stratigraphy rather than treating a laboratory number as self-validating.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Cultural relevance of the Kula
Next question in the 2024 paper (Q5). View answer →
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Are absolute and chronometric dating identical?
Chronometric is the safer term because every laboratory age has an uncertainty range and methodological assumptions.
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Can radiocarbon date a handaxe?
Not directly. It can date associated organic matter if the association is secure and within range.
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