4 ms·

My gut instinct says they misdated the bones.

by chx 9y ago

robotmay 9y ago
My partner is an archaeologist and this is an entertainingly common occurrence with older digs. She reassessed a few as part of some old work in the past few years and found that some bones were from lunch on the dig-site :|
- ASalazarMX 9y ago
  How can that be? Are buried ancient bones indistinguishable from buried recent bones?
  - sten 9y ago
    Could be sea food. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiocarbon_dating#Reservoir_effects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiocarbon_dating#Reservoir_e...
Insanity 9y ago
Could be I suppose - though before announcing something like this you'd think they'd check more frequently. In addition, I'm assuming the dating has a margin of error which was not stated in the article, so I'm curious what this margin is. (But even so, I doubt it's a large enough margin to get close to the 600k that was stated, which is already 'far out there')
- jvozza 9y ago
  The article links to a description, i did some hunting but was unable to find any hard number for a margin of error. Electronic spin resonance: ESR, which measures trapped electrons using magnetic fields, is related to magnetic resonance imaging, the medical technique that allows doctors to look for tumors or peek inside your creaking knee. Because ESR essentially tracks the activity — the “spin” — of the electrons without freeing them, the sample can be subjected to repeated dating attempts. ESR also has a longer range — some researchers claim up to 1 million years — but it’s more complicated than other trapped charge methods, leaving it more susceptible to error.
- sizzzzlerz 9y ago
  The scientific paper stated that the rhino's age came out to 709000 +/- 68000 years. The number was consistent with other measurements made of the age of the depositional layer. Before releasing a claim like this, I would have to believe they were extremely careful in the testing and interpretation. If they have this wrong, it could be a career killer.
dschuler 9y ago
That reminds me of CERN discovering they didn't find a particle moving faster than the speed of light after all - a connector was loose somewhere [0]. [0] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/9100009/Scientists-did-not-break-speed-of-light-it-was-a-faulty-wire.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/910000...
- chx 9y ago
  Oh man, scientific errors are everywhere, remember the mystery serial killer striking in multiple countries seemingly at random? Turned out, the swabs in the DNA kits were contaminated at the manufacturer by a single person. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_of_Heilbronn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_of_Heilbronn

My gut instinct says they misdated the bones.

by chx 9y ago

My gut instinct says they misdated the bones.

My partner is an archaeologist and this is an entertainingly common occurrence with older digs. She reassessed a few as part of some old work in the past few years and found that some bones were from lunch on the dig-site :|

ASalazarMX 9y ago
How can that be? Are buried ancient bones indistinguishable from buried recent bones?
- sten 9y ago
  Could be sea food. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiocarbon_dating#Reservoir_effects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiocarbon_dating#Reservoir_e...

Insanity 9y ago

Could be I suppose - though before announcing something like this you'd think they'd check more frequently. In addition, I'm assuming the dating has a margin of error which was not stated in the article, so I'm curious what this margin is. (But even so, I doubt it's a large enough margin to get close to the 600k that was stated, which is already 'far out there')

jvozza 9y ago
The article links to a description, i did some hunting but was unable to find any hard number for a margin of error. Electronic spin resonance: ESR, which measures trapped electrons using magnetic fields, is related to magnetic resonance imaging, the medical technique that allows doctors to look for tumors or peek inside your creaking knee. Because ESR essentially tracks the activity — the “spin” — of the electrons without freeing them, the sample can be subjected to repeated dating attempts. ESR also has a longer range — some researchers claim up to 1 million years — but it’s more complicated than other trapped charge methods, leaving it more susceptible to error.
sizzzzlerz 9y ago
The scientific paper stated that the rhino's age came out to 709000 +/- 68000 years. The number was consistent with other measurements made of the age of the depositional layer. Before releasing a claim like this, I would have to believe they were extremely careful in the testing and interpretation. If they have this wrong, it could be a career killer.

dschuler 9y ago

That reminds me of CERN discovering they didn't find a particle moving faster than the speed of light after all - a connector was loose somewhere [0]. [0] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/9100009/Scientists-did-not-break-speed-of-light-it-was-a-faulty-wire.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/910000...

chx 9y ago
Oh man, scientific errors are everywhere, remember the mystery serial killer striking in multiple countries seemingly at random? Turned out, the swabs in the DNA kits were contaminated at the manufacturer by a single person. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_of_Heilbronn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_of_Heilbronn