Term for archaeological methods for dating things?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around identifying a general term for the various methods used by archaeologists to date artifacts and historical events. Participants explore the nuances of terminology related to dating techniques beyond specific methods like radiocarbon dating.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant seeks a term that encompasses general archaeological dating methods, citing examples like pull tabs from soda cans as a dating marker.
  • Another suggests "chronological dating" but acknowledges it may not capture the specific methods used.
  • Some participants argue that there is no single term due to the variety of methods, including style analysis of artifacts and dendrochronology.
  • There is a distinction made between the name of the practice ("chronological dating") and the methods employed (e.g., radiocarbon dating).
  • Discussion includes the use of prefixes like "paleo" and "archae" to describe specific fields within archaeology and history.
  • One participant notes that there may not be an English term that encompasses all dating methods, speculating that other languages might have more comprehensive terms.
  • References are made to related concepts such as stratigraphy and bioturbation as additional methods of dating.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on whether a single term exists to describe all archaeological dating methods, with some asserting that the diversity of techniques precludes a unified term.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the ambiguity of terms and the reliance on specific contexts or methods, which may not be universally applicable across all archaeological practices.

Stephen Tashi
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Is there a term for the general methods archeologists use to date things? - more general that the specific method of radiocarbon dating. "Historical markers" doesn't seem right.

An example is pull tabs on soda cans. There was short time period (in the USA) where the tabs came completely off the cans when you pulled them. So finding loose tabs would be a method of dating.

I predict another example will be the text of messages. With current technology, people who send texts and messages from their phones often produce weird spellings or correctly spelled words that are not the words they intended. Future technology will probably fix that.
 
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"Chronological dating" doesn't do it for you?
 
Since there is no one method, I doubt there's one term. They sometimes go by the style of weapons found, sometimes by the style of pottery, sometimes by tree rings, and it goes on and on.
 
Vanadium 50 said:
"Chronological dating" doesn't do it for you?
That's the name of WHAT they do. I think he's looking for the name of HOW they do it, such as radiocarbon dating.
 
Recent books and papers append the prefix paleo to the denotation specifically for human history. A period where ancient humans use stone tools is called paleolithic. The study of ancient human writing would be paleography. Other Greek or Latin prefixes specify general cases. So, determining age of logs by counting growth rings utilizes dendrochronology.

Anthropology texts seem to prefer appending archea. The study of human material and artifacts is archaeology. The study of any fossils is called palaeontology predating modern convention.

There are several terms for dating texts by analyzing language, word choice, spelling conventions, demographics, etc.
 
phinds said:
I think he's looking for the name of HOW they do it, such as radiocarbon dating.

If he's looking for a word other than "dating" that includes radioisotope dating, dendrochronology, geologic strata, etc. I don't think there is one in English. I bet German has a really long word for it, though!
 
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The learned term for dating something is
Chronology is the science of locating historical events in time. It relies upon chronometry, which is also known as timekeeping, and historiography, which examines the writing of history and the use of historical methods. ...

as stated in post #2. Cool thread though; as I found this hybrid term palaeoarchaeology.
 
Stephen Tashi said:
So finding loose tabs would be a method of dating.
See also "stratigraphy and bioturbation."
 

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