Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T20:37:25.420Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Marine Turtle Bones from an Archaeological Site in Polynesia Yield Reliable Age Determinations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

T S Dye
T S Dye*
Affiliation:
Hawaii Pacific College, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Accelerator mass spectrometry dating of three 50g samples of marine turtle bone from the basal cultural stratum of the Tongoleleka archaeological site, Lifuka Island, Kingdom of Tonga, South Pacific yields results that agree with conventional 14C dates on marine shell. A method for calibrating these dates that takes into account the long distance migrations of marine turtles in the South Pacific is proposed. A sample size greater than 50g is recommended for routine AMS dating of marine turtle bone.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , 1990 , pp. 143 - 147
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

References

Balazs, GH 1982 Status of sea turtles in the central Pacific Ocean. In Bjorndal, KA, ed, Biology and conservation of sea turtles. Washington DC, Smithsonian Inst Press: 243–252.Google Scholar
Bellwood, P 1979 Man's conquest of the Pacific. New York, Oxford Univ Press.Google Scholar
Bjorndal, KA 1985 Nutritional ecology of sea turtles. Copeia 1985: 736–751.Google Scholar
Davidson, J 1979 Samoa and Tonga. In Jennings, J D, ed, The prehistory of Polynesia. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard Univ Press: 82–109.Google Scholar
Dye, TS (ms) 1988 Social and cultural change in the prehistory of the ancestral Polynesian homeland. PhD dissert, Yale Univ, New Haven.Google Scholar
Dye, TS and Steadman, DW, in press, The human settlement of Polynesia and its effects on island faunas. American Scientist. Google Scholar
Gillespie, R, Hedges, REM and Humm, MJ 1986 Routine AMS dating of bone and shell proteins. In Stuiver, M and Kra, RS, eds, Internatl 14C conf, 12th, Proc. Radiocarbon 28(2A): 451–456.Google Scholar
Green, RC 1979 Lapita. In Jennings, JD, ed, The prehistory of Polynesia. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard Univ Press: 27–60.Google Scholar
Groube, LM 1971 Tonga, Lapita pottery, and Polynesian origins. Jour Polynesian Soc 80: 278–316.Google Scholar
James, HF, Stafford, TW, Steadman, DW, Olson, SL, Martin, PS, Jull, AJT and McCoy, PC 1987 Radiocarbon dates on bones of extinct birds from Hawaii. Natl Acad Sci USA Proc 84: 2350–2354.Google Scholar
Kirch, PV 1984 The evolution of the Polynesian chiefdoms. Cambridge, Cambridge Univ Press.Google Scholar
Kirch, PV 1988 Niuatoputapu: The prehistory of a Polynesian chiefdom. Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Mus Mono 5. Seattle, Burke Museum.Google Scholar
Meylan, A 1982 Sea turtle migration: evidence from tag returns. In Bjorndal, KA, ed, Biology and conservation of sea turtles. Washington DC, Smithsonian Inst Press: 91–100.Google Scholar
Mortimer, JA 1982 Feeding ecology of sea turtles. In Bjorndal, KA, ed, Biology and conservation of sea turtles. Washington DC, Smithsonian Inst Press: 103–109.Google Scholar
Ottaway, BS 1973 Dispersion diagrams: A new approach to the display of carbon-14 dates. Archaeometry 15: 5–12.Google Scholar
Pearson, GW and Stuiver, M 1986 High-precision calibration of the radiocarbon time scale, 500-2500 BC. In Stuiver, M and Kra, RS, eds, Internatl 14C conf, 12th, Proc. Radiocarbon 28(2B): 839–862.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polach, HA 1987 The interpretation and comparison of the radiocarbon results. In Poulsen, J, Early Tongan prehistory. Terra Australis 12, Canberra, Australian Natl Univ: 270–273.Google Scholar
Poulsen, J 1987 Early Tongan prehistory. Terra Australis 12, Canberra, Australian Natl Univ. Google Scholar
Pregill, GK and Dye, T 1989 Prehistoric extinction of giant iguanas in Tonga. Copeia 1989(2): 505–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pritchard, PCH 1982 Marine turtles of the South Pacific. In Bjorndal, KA, ed, Biology and conservation of sea turtles. Washington DC, Smithsonian Inst Press: 253–262.Google Scholar
Smith, SV, Schneider, RC and Tribble, GW 1985 Carbon isotopic balance in coral reef ecosystems. Internatl coral reef cong, 5th, Proc. Tahiti 3, Mo'orea, Fr Polynesia, Antenne Mus-EPHE: 445–450.Google Scholar
Stafford, TW Jr, Hare, PE, Currie, L, Jull, AJT and Donahue, D, in press, Accelerator 14C dating at the molecular level. Jour Archaeol Sci. Google Scholar
Steadman, DW 1989 New species and records of birds (Aves: Megapodiidae, Columbidae) from an archaeological site on Lifuka, Tonga. Biol Soc Washington Proc 102(3): 537–552.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Pearson, GW and Braziunas, T 1986 Radiocarbon age calibration of marine samples back to 9000 cal yr bp. In Stuiver, M and Kra, RS, eds, Internatl 14C conf, 12th, Proc. Radiocarbon 28(2B): 980–1021.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M and Reimer, PJ 1986 A computer program for radiocarbon age calibration. In Stuiver, M and Kra, RS, eds, Internatl 14C conf, 12th, Proc. Radiocarbon 28(2B): 1022–1030.Google Scholar