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Abstract
After a 20-year hiatus (1955–1975) during which few archaeologists discussed fluoride dating, the method again received attention in the 1980s and 1990s when some argued for its validity. As a dating method, fluoride dating depends on the rate at which fluorine ions replace hydroxyl ions in osseous tissue. The rate of replacement is influenced by the properties of the skeletal part (SP), sediment chemistry (K), and sediment hydrology (H), and the replacement rate influences estimates of time. Calibrated AMS radiocarbon assays of 10 black bear (Ursus americanus) femora from a natural-trap cave in central Missouri are weakly correlated with fluorine concentrations, determined by neutron activation analysis in the 10 femora. Despite minimal variation in SP, K, and H, results indicate fluoride dating can be considered a valid dating method only in cases when the chronological validity of its results are confirmed with independent chronometric data. As similarities in fluorine amounts across specimens increase, provenience information and bone orientation data as well as fine resolution data on K and H become critical to the application of fluoride dating.
Partial funding for the AMS dates was provided by the University of Missouri Research Council. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance provided by the University of Missouri Research Reactor. We especially thank Dr. J. Steve Morris for his patience and assistance in developing the NAA methods for this project. Dr. Danielle Hauck assisted with the irradiation of specimens and calculation of elemental concentrations. Dr. Keith Goyne, a University of Missouri soil chemist, was most helpful with our questions about local sediment chemistry. Richard Gillespie, Evan Peacock, Kenneth Tankersley, Steve Wolverton, and several anonymous reviewers provided insightful comments on multiple early drafts. Our final thanks go to the individuals who originally excavated Lawson Cave and subsequently curated the faunal remains for several decades prior to our studies; their foresight was exemplary.
R. Lee Lyman (Ph.D. 1982, University of Washington) is Professor and Chair of the Anthropology Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia. His research focuses on the zooarchaeology of the Pacific Northwestern United States and the history of American archaeology.
Corinne Rosania (M.A. 2010, University of Missouri-Columbia) is a Research Scientist with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Her research interests include dietary stable isotope analysis and the ecology of Missouri mammals.
Matthew T. Boulanger (M.A. 2009, University of Missouri-Columbia) is a doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of Missouri-Columbia. His research focuses on the prehistory of the North American Northeast and the Paleoindian archaeology of the eastern United States.