SOIL-TEMPERATURE AND OBSIDIAN HYDRATION DATING - A CLARIFICATION OF VARIABLES AFFECTING ACCURACY

The results of a year-long soil temperature monitoring programme are p resented. They increase understanding of the magnitude, spatial scale and predictability of variation in soil temperature regimes which affe ct obsidian hydration dating. It is demonstrated that current archaeol ogical temperature estimation methods, either due to design or applica tion, do not provide temperature control at a spatial resolution fine enough to control for microregional variation. This failure is resulti ng in significant and avoidable dating errors. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.