Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T20:46:52.307Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Obsidian Hydration Dating and Temperature Controls in the Punta Negra Region of Northern Chile

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Thomas F. Lynch  and
Christopher M. Stevenson
Thomas F. Lynch
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853
Christopher M. Stevenson
Affiliation:
Diffusion Laboratories, Archaeological Services Consultants, Box 02095, Columbus, Ohio 42302
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Effective hydration temperature (EHT) is essential for the computation of obsidian hydration dates. In the Atacama Desert, the scarcity of air-temperature records combines with extremes of elevation and local temperature to encourage, or even require, the use of buried thermal cells to record on-site mean annual temperatures. Compositional analysis (sourcing) and hydration rate development in the laboratory are also necessary, especially where other dating methods are unavailable to confirm the hydration rate. Paleoindian or Early Archaic through modern obsidian dates support a human settlement pattern history derived from archaeological/geomorphological studies of climatological and hydrological change.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , January 1992 , pp. 117 - 124
Copyright
University of Washington

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.)

References

Ambrose, W.R., (1980). Monitoring long-term temperature and humidity Bulletin of the Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material 6, 1 36–42 Google Scholar
Flint, R.F., (1971). Glacial and Quaternary Geology Wiley New York Google Scholar
Fox, A.N. Strecker, M.R., (1991). Pleistocene and modern snowline trends and controls of mountain glaciation, northern Sierras Pampeanas-Southern Puna; Argentine Andes (24° to 28° S latitude, 65° to 69° W longitude) Bamberger Geographische Schriften 10,Google Scholar
Graf, K., (1981). Zum Höhenverlauf der Subnivalstufe in den Tropischen Anden, insbesondere in Bolivien und Ecuador Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie 37, 1–24 Google Scholar
Johnson, A.M., (1976). The climate of Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador Schwerdtfeger, W. World Survey of Climatology Vol. 12, Elsevier New York 147–218 Google Scholar
Lynch, T.F., (1984). The Salar de Punta Negra: Late and postglacial climate change, water budgets, and settlement around a former freshwater lake American Quaternary Association Programs and Abstracts, 8th Biennial Meeting Boulder, Colorado 73 Google Scholar
Lynch, T.F., (1986). Climate change and human settlement around the late-Glacial laguna de Punta Negra, Northern Chile: The preliminary results Geoarchaeology 1, 145–162 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lynch, T.F., (1990). Quaternary climate, environment, and the human occupation of the south-central Andes Geoarchaeology 5, 199–228 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michels, J. Bebrich, C., (1971). Obsidian hydration dating Michael, H.N. Ralph, E.K. Dating Techniques for the Archaeologist MIT Press Cambridge 164–221 Google Scholar
Niemeyer, H. Schiappacasse, V., (1976). Los yacimientos arqueológicos de Laguna Meniques Niemeyer, H. Homenaje al Dr. Gustavo Le Paige, S. J. Universidad del Norte Antofagasta 31–57 Google Scholar
Pino, M., (1976). Datación por obsidiana de artefactos de los sitios de Meniques Niemeyer, H. Homenaje al Dr. Gustavo Le Paige, S. J. Universidad del Norte Antofagasta 65–70 Google Scholar
Rudloff, W., (1981). World-Climates Stuttgart Google Scholar
Scheetz, B. Stevenson, C., (1988). The role of resolution and sample preparation in hydration rim measurement: Implications for experimentally determined hydration rates American Antiquity 53, 110–117 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seltzer, G.O., (1990). Recent glacial history and paleoclimate of the Peruvian-Bolivian Andes Quaternary Science Reviews 9, 137–152 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trembour, F.W. Friedman, I. Jurceka, F.J. Smith, F.L., (1986). A simple device for integrating temperature, relative humidity or salinity over time Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 3, 186–190 2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar