Relative and absolute dating of fossils

Dating dinosaurs and other fossils

Fossils can provide clues to how plants and animals lived in the past — what they looked like, what they ate, what environments they lived in, and how they evolved and went extinct. About 3 million years ago, a new type of clue appeared in the rock layers of eastern Africa — objects made by our hominin ancestors. Hominins began to live their lives in a different way, utilizing tools made of stone in their day-to-day activities. Sharp stone tools allowed hominins to cut wood more easily or strip meat from bones. Other tools may have helped them forage for plant foods or hunt and kill animals. Using tools can also leave marks on bones, which may be preserved. Tools and butchery-marked bones are traces of human behavior, and they are also key elements in the study of human evolution.

REGISTER TO VIEW

Fossils themselves, and the sedimentary rocks they are found in, are very difficult to date directly. These include radiometric dating of volcanic layers above or below the fossils or by comparisons to similar rocks and fossils of known ages. Knowing when a dinosaur or other animal lived is important because it helps us place them on the evolutionary family tree. Accurate dates also allow us to create sequences of evolutionary change and work out when species appeared or became extinct. There are two main methods to date a fossil. These are:.

REGISTER TO VIEW

Imagine someone telling you a story where all the important events happened in the wrong order. It might be confusing, or even make no sense at all. Being able to tell how old things are and put them in the right order is one of the most important skills archaeologists have.

REGISTER TO VIEW

Dating Fossils – How Are Fossils Dated?

View related workbook: Dating Methods. The Earth is around 4. Physical evidence of geological changes and the mineralized remains of living organisms fossils , as well as material remains and artifacts of human societies, offer archaeologists important insights into the past. Archaeologists seek to place discoveries within a broader historical framework; in other words, to get a sense for the time period that an object comes from and how it relates to other finds, times, and places in the archaeological record.

REGISTER TO VIEW

REGISTER TO VIEW