Lamont Natural Radiocarbon Measurements, II

Abstract

In this 2d report from the Lamont Geological Observatory, some outstanding contribution of biological interest are: Dinornis from Pyramid Valley, N. Zealand, is 1800 [plus or minus] 150 yrs. old; wood from -273ft., on weathered surface below Mississippi delta, presumably growing in situ during last great sea level lowering of the Wisconsin glaciation, is more than 30,000 yrs. old; fragments of skin and dried tissue of an extinct superbison from frozen muck near Fairbanks, Alaska, more than 28,000 yrs. old, suggest that permafrost conditions have been continuous from at least the beginning of the 2d (last) major phase of Wisconsin glaciation in this area; the climate on the Seward peninsula, Alaska, approx. 8350 yrs. ago was probably warmer than at present, as was also true of the Fairbanks region approx. 13,000 yrs. ago; marine littoral shell samples collected in regions of up-welling deep-sea water will indicate a much older age than they should, due to lack of C14 in this "old" water; and plants which derive their C14 from fresh-water lakes as well as from air may show erroneously old ages. The last 2 conditions mentioned are important in dating archaeological materials.