Marvin Rowe

Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM · Plasma-chemistry/radiocarbon dating

Oxtotitlán Cave paintings have been considered among the earliest in Mesoamerica on stylistic grounds, but confirmation of this hypothesis through absolute dating has not been attempted until now. We describe the application of advanced radiocarbon strategies developed for situations such as caves with high carbon backgrounds. Using a low-temperatu...

This paper presents a synthesis of the chronological results obtained in the "Investigación cronoestratigráfica de los soportes y recubrimientos de las pinturas rupestres de la Sierra de la Pietat o Godall (Montsià, Tarragona)", performed during the project "Estudio cronoestratigráfico de los soportes del Arte Rupestre del Levante Español” (2008-20...

The pictograph discovered at Black Dragon Canyon, Utah, in the late 1920s, is a classic example of the Barrier Canyon style, dating probably to AD 1-1100. Creationists, however, have argued, from the incomplete preservation of the motifs, that it depicts a winged monster or pterosaur. A new study using portable X-ray fluorescence refutes this ill-f...

Samples from three charcoal pictographs at Ignatievskaya Cave, in the southern Ural Mountains of Russia, have been radiocarbon dated. An advanced antiquity was expected, with some paintings thought to be more than 10,000 years old, as suggested by the imagery. One charcoal painting, for example, resembles a mammoth. The radiocarbon date of that mot...

We evaluate the effectiveness of non-destructive portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (pXRF) for elemental analysis of pictographs at 10 sites in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of Texas. Considerations and limitations of pXRF analysis are discussed to inform future research. We found that manganese and iron minerals were the main constituents of b...

The chemical environment of barium in Portland cement which is doped with barium nitrate was investigated using x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The barium doped cement showed tremendous increases in carbonate content over the undoped cement. An XPS sulfate signal was observed in the cement...

Peyote, a psychoactive cactus native to the Chihuahuan Desert, has been preserved from excavations at only two archaeological sites: Shumla Caves in the Lower Pecos region of southwest Texas and shelter CM-79 near Cuatro Ciénegas in Coahuila, Mexico. We determined three indistinguishable radiocarbon ages of 5160 ± 45, 5200 ± 35, and 5210 ± 35 14C y...

We extracted carbon from a sample removed from a small, non-descript, solid monochrome pictograph at Painted Indian Cave site on the Pedernales River, Blanco County, Texas (41BC1). It contains red iron oxide pigment and is approximately 10-20 cm in size. The sample was taken with a surgical scalpel with a new blade. Plasma-chemistry was utilized to...

Using plasma chemistry, carbon was extracted from charcoal paint samples collected from megalithic monuments in north-west Iberia. Nine accelerator mass spectrometric radiocarbon dates on these paints establish their age to be within 1000 14 C years of each other, centred at approximately 5000 BP. These radiocarbon ages for megalithic paintings fal...

In 2002, eight pigment samples were collected from three rock art sites in the Big Belt Mountains of west central Montana. Samples from Hellgate Gulch (24BW9), Avalanche Mouth (24BW19), and the Gates of the Mountains (24LC27) were dated using plasma-chemical extraction and accelerator mass spectrometry. The dates were statistically indistinguishabl...

Plasma oxidation was used to obtain radiocarbon dates on six different materials from a naturally mummified baby bundle from the Lower Pecos River region of southwest Texas. This bundle was selected because it was thought to represent a single event and would illustrate the accuracy and precision of the plasma oxidation method. Five of the material...

J Archaeol Sci 30 (2003) 351 reported extremely interesting dates on a calcite layer covering a pictograph at the Toca da Bastiana rock shelter within the Serra da Capivara National Park, Piaui, Brazil. Thermoluminescence and electron paramagnetic resonance ages indicate that humans were present in Brazil prior to 35 ky ago. We report radiocarbon d...

A glossy, black deposit covers much of the ceiling and walls of Little Lost River Cave No. 1, Idaho. This site is of particular interest because of the red, orange, and yellow pictographs underlying the coating. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis has allowed us to better understand the nature and origin of the deposit. With a δ13C value of...

The purpose of this semester-long study was to investigate the effect of replacing traditional lecture with cooperative group problem-solving sessions in a junior-level quantitative analysis course. The control and treatment groups had the same instructor, met on the same day, had the same reading assignments, and had common exams. The instructor w...

The use of plasma-chemical extraction in radiocarbon dating of rock paintings is discussed. Radiocarbon dating of rock art allows an inventory of images to be studied along with other cultural remains of a given archaeological time period. Assigning painted images to a particular prehistoric culture allows archaeologists to gain information on arti...

At the Toca do Serrote da Bastiana rock shelter in Brazil, a red, iron ochre pictograph of an anthropomorphic figure had become coated with a 'calcite' accretion over time. Using X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, we determined that the accretion also contains whewellite, the monohydrate of calcium oxalate, in addition t...

Early and recent work on Pu-Xe dating of achondrites (eucrites) is discussed here; the latter has focused on establishing the time of closure for Xe, not on the estimation of the time interval between the cessation of nucleosynthesis and the crystallization of solid bodies in our solar system. By using various Angra dos Reis dates as standard, the...

Radiocarbon age determinations are presented on three hieroglyphic texts from Naj Tunich cave in Guatemala containing Maya calendar dates. The ages obtained are on average 110-140 years older than the calendar dates. Several possible reasons are discussed for this discrepancy: one that is applicable to all radiocarbon dates on charcoal, one that ap...

This report presents four radiocarbon dates of charcoal pigments from Picture Cave, a site located in a remote wooded area in east-central Missouri. Carbon from charcoal pigments was extracted from three rock drawings on the wall of this cave. The four pigment samples contained sufficient carbon for accelerator mass spectrometric radiocarbon analys...

A sample from a charcoal rock painting at the Arnold/Tainter Cave site (47Cr560) was radiocarbon dated, providing the first direct age determination for a pictograph in Wisconsin. The sample was pretreated with HCl and NaOH before organic carbon was extracted using an oxygen plasma. The painting, of a creature resembling a caribou because of the or...

This article presents radiocarbon dates for painted motifs at Red Cliffs, west of Sedona in the northeastern corner of Yavapai County, Arizona. All rock painting shields at the Red Cliffs sites have usually been attributed to the Sinagua. Black pigment from one shield motif and an overlying white dot on another motif yielded uncalibrated radiocarbo...

It has been 18 years since Andrée Rosenfeld suggested that the rock-art of north Queensland changed from non-figurative to mainly figurative forms some 5–4000 years ago. Her views were based on a small regional database and on indirect chronological evidence. This paper looks afresh at the antiquity of north Queensland's rock-art by reviewing the e...

Indirect dating methods have previously been applied to the rock paintings of north Queensland, utilising patterns of superimposition, depictions of material items and animals of known antiquity, the use of fragile paints such as mud and white kaolinite, and in-situ pigment stratigraphies. These patterns suggest that the vast majority of Chillagoe...

The visual manifestation of the recent Hale-Bopp comet reminds us how telling are those rare objects which suddenly flare in the sky. One can suppose ancient people living by natural light were more compellingly struck by the sight of comets and supernovae, and understandably researchers seek images of them in the shapes of rock-art motifs. An abso...

We report here progress on our technique for 14C dating of pictographs. We use low-temperature oxygen plasmas coupled with high-vacuum technology to selectively remove carbon-containing material in the paints without contamination from inorganic carbon from rock substrates or accretions. Pictograph samples dated generally agree with ages expected o...

We report here progress on our technique for C-14 dating pictographs. We use low-temperature oxygen plasmas coupled with high-vacuum techniques to selectively remove carbon-containing material in the paints without contamination from rock substrates or accretions. We dated >16 pictograph samples that generally agree with ages expected on the basis...

Oxygen isotopic compositions have been determined for whole-rock and separated components from the CI chondrites Alais, Ivuna, and Orgueil, and from the atypical CM chondrites Bells and Essebi. The composition of CI matrix is in agreement with previous measurements and is systematically different from that of CM matrix, probably due to warmer and w...

Controversy has surrounded the All American Man pictograph in southeast Utah since its discovery in the 1950s. Its coloration, similar to the flag of the United States of America, has led to questions regarding its authenticity. We have obtained two radiocarbon values on a single sample comprised of pigmented sandstone fragments from one small area...

DATING of prehistoric rock paintings (pictographs) has traditionally relied on indirect evidence. This includes inferences based on the archaeological context, such as superpositions of pictorial styles1 and the depiction of images that constrain their ages1,2, as well as dating of deposits that either cover the art in situ 3,4 or contain separated...

The abundance, distribution and nature of occurrence of uranium in granitic rocks in central Texas, and that in soil profiles and local stream sediments derived from these rocks have been determined by fission-track mapping, delayed-neutron counting and gamma-ray spectrometry. Selected samples were also analyzed for Th and K. In the granites, U occ...

Results of observations recorded during constant temperature reduction of NiO, a paramagnetic substance, to Ni, a ferromagnetic element, are presented. The application of a large magnetic field (4,200 oersted) does not result in an acceleration of the reduction rate. To explain earlier observations that 500- and 1,400-oersted magnetic fields increa...

Uranium-helium “ages” have been determined for a suite of 25 whole-rock basalts from Madeira and Porto Santo islands in the Madeira Archipelago. We include petrographic descriptions of these samples. Uranium measurements were by delayed-neutron activation analysis. Helium measurements were by isotopic dilution in an all-metal system characterized b...

Recientemente se obtuvo una fecha de radiocarbono de 3030 ± 45 14 C AP, de la pictografía roja conocida como Diablo Rojo, por medio de la utilización de extracción con plasma químico y espectrometría de aceleración de masas. Esta es la primera pictografía de las Tierras Altas que ha sido fechada directamente. En la actualidad, el Departamento de Qu...

Examination of the isotopic composition of xenon from achondrites reveals that the124Xe, 126Xe, 128Xe and130Xe are all linearly correlated indicating only two principal components for these isotopes-trapped and cosmic ray produced xenon. No evidence is found for the reaction 127I(n, γβ)128Xe in the achondrites. We thus place approximate limits on t...

Rowe and Kuroda (1965) presented their measurement of the isotopic composition and abundance of xenon in a sample of the Pasa- monte meteorite in which fissiogenic xenon, pre- sumably from the spontaneous fission of ex- tinct Pu'", was detected. The Pu'-Xedecay interval was found to be about 300 m.y. The data on a second sample of Pasamonte are re...