Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:16:31.815Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New Radiocarbon Dates and the Maya Correlation Problem*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Linton Satterthwaite  and
Elizabeth K. Ralph
Linton Satterthwaite
Affiliation:
University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.
Elizabeth K. Ralph
Affiliation:
University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two long series of samples from Tikal, Petén, Guatemala, have been dated by the radiocarbon method for the purpose of limiting the range of possible correlations of the Maya calendar with the Christian. These samples from lintel and vault beams were selected from latest-growth portions of the beams which were presumably cut at times corresponding to Maya dates carved on lintels of two temples. Christian dates for dedicatory Maya dates of the lintels are calculated according to five correlation hypotheses, and are compared with radiocarbon dates for ten beams from Temple IV and six from Temple I. These new radiocarbon dates are shown to be closely related to “absolute” ages by means of radiocarbon counts of tree-ring-dated samples of the same period. The radiocarbon results support the 11-16 (Goodman-Thompson-Martinez) correlation. Attention is given to previous radiocarbon tests by other laboratories of beams removed from Tikal many years ago which seemed to favor the 12-9 correlation in Spinden or Makemson variants. With the aid of new radiocarbon dates for similar samples, reasons for the differences in results are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , October 1960 , pp. 165 - 184
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1960

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

A shorter version of this paper was read by Satterthwaite at the 25th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, New Haven, Connecticut, May 7, 1960.

References

Beyer, Herman 1943. Algunos datos sobre los dinteles mayas de Tikal en el Museo Etnográfico de Basilea. Actas de la primera sesión del XXVII Congreso International de Americanistas [Mexico, 1939.], Vol. 1, pp. 338–43. Institute Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Broecker, W. S., Olson, E. A., and Bird, J. 1959. Radiocarbon Measurements on Samples of Known Age. Nature, Vol. 183, pp. 1582–84. London.Google Scholar
Coe, W. R. and Shook, E. M. In press The Carved Wooden Lintels of Tikal. In “Tikal Reports,” Museum Monographs. University Museum, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Deevey, E. S., Gralenski, L. J., and Hoffren, V. 1959. Yale Natural Radiocarbon Measurements IV. American Journal of Science Radiocarbon Supplement, Vol. 1, pp. 144–72. New Haven.Google Scholar
Godwin, H. 1959. Carbon-Dating Conference at Groningen, Sept. 14–19, 1959. Nature, Vol. 184, No. 4696, pp. 1365–6. London.Google Scholar
Kulp, J. L., Feely, H. W., and Tryon, L. E. 1951. Lamont Natural Radiocarbon Measurements, I. Science, Vol. 114, No. 2970, pp. 565–8. Washington.Google Scholar
Libby, W. F. 1955. Radiocarbon Dating, Second edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Lothrop, S. K. 1952. Metals from the Cenote of Sacrifice, Chichen Itza, Yucatan. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Vol. 10, No. 2. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Morley, S. G. 1937–38. The Inscriptions of Peten. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 437. Washington.Google Scholar
Proskouriakoff, Tatiana 1950. A Study of Classic Maya Sculpture. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 593. Washington.Google Scholar
Ralph, E. K. 1959.a Double Trouble. Expedition, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 24–5. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Ralph, E. K. 1959.b University of Pennsylvania Radiocarbon Dates III. American Journal of Science Radiocarbon Supplement, Vol. 1, pp. 45–58. New Haven.Google Scholar
Satterthwaite, Linton Jr. 1956. Radiocarbon Dates and the Maya Correlation Problem. American Antiquity, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 416–9. Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Satterthwaite, Linton Jr. 1958. Comment on Thompson's Paper. In “Middle American Anthropology, Special Symposium of the American Anthropological Association.” Pan American Union, Social Science Monograph 5, pp. 53–7. Washington.Google Scholar
Segrè, E. (Editor) 1959. Experimental Nuclear Physics, Volume 3. John Wiley and Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Smiley, C. H. 1960. The Antiquity and Precision of Maya Astronomy. Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Vol. 54, No. 5, pp. 222–6. Toronto.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. E. S. 1950. Maya Hieroglyphic Writing: Introduction. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 589. Washington.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. E. S. 1958. Research in Maya Hieroglyphic Writing. In “Middle American Anthropology, Special Symposium of the American Anthropological Association.“ Pan American Union, Social Science Monograph 5, pp. 43–52. Washington.Google Scholar