PROBLEMS WITH RADIOMETRIC TIME - DATING THE INITIAL HUMAN COLONIZATION OF SAHUL

Until recently, the only chronometric technique applied to Sahulian ar chaeological sites was C-14 dating; the ages obtained rarely exceeded 40,000 Bf. Belief that the region was first colonized around that time has recently been shaken by luminescence dates from several archaeolo gical sites in northern Australia that suggest people arrived between 60,000 and 55,000 sp. The ensuing debate over their validity revealed that some participants misunderstood luminescence dating and the tempo ral limitations of C-14 dating, illustrated here through a discussion of the tempo and mode of Sahulian colonization. Radiometric techniques cannot distinguish between the models proposed because they are unabl e to resolve temporal issues that occur within their limits of error.