The 14C age of the Toten' mammoth, eastern Norway |
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| Authors: | BJØRN A FOLLESTAD INGRID U OLSSON |
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| Institution: | Geological Survey of Norway, P.O. Box 3006, N-7001 Trondheim, Norway;Institute of Physics, University of Uppsala, Box 530, S-751 21 Uppsala. Sweden;5th July, 1978. |
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| Abstract: | A mammoth tusk find from Toten in Oppland, eastern Norway, has been re-dated by the EDTA method. On examining the tusk for heavy metals, the porous parts were found to have the highest concentration. This fact, together with earlier experience from selecting bone samples for 14C dating, favour the choice of the hard non-porous parts. The influence of possible minor contaminants remaining after pretreatment is discussed. Because of high cosmic-ray intensity the background deviated from the normal stable value. The variations were studied carefully. The final result is that the net activity of the bone is so close to zero that it is questionable whether the age is 'finite'. It is concluded that the tusk is older than 28,000 years. |
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