You are reading a blog written by a student who is working at an archeological dig in Cyprus. She mentions that they just uncovered an ancient burial site in which the skeletal remains of a human are found next to those of a cat. The arrangement of the bones suggests that the cat was buried with its owner and may have been a pet. Remarkably, the location of the grave relative to other known artifacts suggests it is 10,000 years old. If this is correct, then this is the earliest evidence for cat domestication. The blog author suggests that dendrochronological analysis of some of the wood fragments found nearby, together with C14 analysis should confirm the dates. You are not so sure these two methods will work equally well. Which method is most likely to shed accurate insight into the age of these two skeletons? Why?

Question

Biology

Arturo Moreno

14 August, 11:58

You are reading a blog written by a student who is working at an archeological dig in Cyprus. She mentions that they just uncovered an ancient burial site in which the skeletal remains of a human are found next to those of a cat. The arrangement of the bones suggests that the cat was buried with its owner and may have been a pet. Remarkably, the location of the grave relative to other known artifacts suggests it is 10,000 years old. If this is correct, then this is the earliest evidence for cat domestication. The blog author suggests that dendrochronological analysis of some of the wood fragments found nearby, together with C14 analysis should confirm the dates. You are not so sure these two methods will work equally well. Which method is most likely to shed accurate insight into the age of these two skeletons? Why?

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Answers (1)

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Steven · Answer 1

Obviously C-14 Method ...

Explanation:

First things to clear first that the dendrochronological analysis is used only for plants that are alive. the second thing to under stand is that this analysis of a wood fragment would only give ages according to the size and number of rings present in the bark of wood.

The C-14 is a highly effective way because it can give aging analysis even for a million years or so and scientists used it everyday to predict the age by analyzing decayed organic carbon isotope C-14 present in every life form dead or alive on Earth.