Work

Refining prehistoric timelines: the power of high-precision radiocarbon dating

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Refining prehistoric timelines: the power of high-precision radiocarbon dating RESOLUTION aims to achieve an accurate and highly resolved chronology back to 55,000 years BP (Before Present), using some new floating sections of fossil trees. In fact, with tree rings, the resolution will be an order of magnitude higher, and using the most recent advances in the AMS technique, we will obtain confidence intervals of only a few centuries in glacial times. In this way, we can establish in a precise way the timing of when Homo sapiens arrived in Europe, their interaction with Neanderthals and the final cause of the Neanderthal extinction. The project involves fieldwork in the Mediterranean and Southeast Europe to find more glacial trees, study the existing collection of glacial conifers, exceptional 14C precision for 14C dates in the glacial, and the cutting-edge methodology linking floating tree-ring chronologies to 10Be on the ice core scale.

Source: The Project Repository Journal

DOI: 10.54050/prj23213

Author: Sahra Talamo

Institution: University of Bologna

Language: English

Topic: Archaeology and ancient environmental studies

Subfield: Paleontology

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: European Commission, H2020 European Research Council

Awards: G434337789, Radiocarbon, tree rings, and solar variability provide the accurate time scale for human evolution and geoscience