Relative and absolute dating methods

8: Dating Methods – Relative and Absolute Dating

Imagine someone telling you a story where all the important events happened in the wrong order. It might be confusing, or even make no sense at all. Being able to tell how old things are and put them in the right order is one of the most important skills archaeologists have. We call this skill dating because it is how we organize our discoveries in time, like dates on a calendar. Archaeologists use two kinds of dating methods: relative dating and absolute dating. In relative dating , we determine which things are older or younger based on their relationships.

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This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Despite seeming like a relatively stable place, the Earth's surface has changed dramatically over the past 4. Mountains have been built and eroded, continents and oceans have moved great distances, and the Earth has fluctuated from being extremely cold and almost completely covered with ice to being very warm and ice-free.

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This document discusses methods for dating fossils and rocks. It describes two main dating methods: relative dating and absolute dating. Relative dating involves determining the relative ages of rocks or fossils compared to one another, using principles like superposition. Absolute dating determines precise ages in years using radiometric dating techniques like carbon dating or potassium-argon dating. Radiometric dating works by measuring the decay of radioactive elements that were present when rocks formed.

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Overview of Relative and Absolute Dating

Adapted by Sean W. First Edition. View Source.

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