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THE FIRST 14C LABORATORY IN MEXICO: THE BASIS OF A NEW RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHYSICISTS AND ARCHAEOLOGISTS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2021

Alberto Alcántara Open the ORCID record for Alberto Alcántara [Opens in a new window] ,
Corina Solís ,
María Rodríguez-Ceja ,
Miguel Ángel Martínez-Carrillo Open the ORCID record for Miguel Ángel Martínez-Carrillo [Opens in a new window] ,
Efraín Chávez  and
María Esther Ortiz
Alberto Alcántara*
Affiliation:
Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Periférico Sur y Calle Zapote s/n, Isidro Fabela, Mexico City, Mexico
Corina Solís
Affiliation:
Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito de la Investigación Científica s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, C.P. 04510, Mexico City, Mexico
María Rodríguez-Ceja
Affiliation:
Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito de la Investigación Científica s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, C.P. 04510, Mexico City, Mexico
Miguel Ángel Martínez-Carrillo
Affiliation:
Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior s/n, C.P. 04510, Mexico City, Mexico
Efraín Chávez
Affiliation:
Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito de la Investigación Científica s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, C.P. 04510, Mexico City, Mexico
María Esther Ortiz
Affiliation:
Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito de la Investigación Científica s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, C.P. 04510, Mexico City, Mexico
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The development of dating with radiocarbon (14C) by W. F. Libby and his colleagues, and its immediate application to archaeological objects from Mexico, aroused the interest of Mexican archaeological community, especially from the Prehistory Direction of the INAH. Joining efforts, the Institute of Physic of UNAM and INAH set up the first 14C laboratory in 1954. Augusto Moreno, who had worked and learned the technique with Libby in Chicago, was named the researcher in charge of this laboratory. We present the chronology of the project to install the first 14C laboratory in Mexico and some of the archaeological research projects that used the 14C dating technique carried out in Mexico in the 1960s.

Keywords

historicalMexican archaeologyradiocarbon dating
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 64 , Issue 3: Seven Decades of Radiocarbon Dating: Remembering the Pioneers & Looking Towards the Future. Part 1 of 2 , June 2022 , pp. 623 - 631
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press for the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona

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Footnotes

†

Deceased.

References

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