New method of dating: One of 10 outstanding discoveries of the year

The research by Oxford University scientists on the new dating method was voted one of the 10 scientific inventions of 2007. This method has been applied in a skull. who seeks to find the origin of the nearest ancestor of mankind.

The skull was discovered more than 50 years ago near the town of Hofmeyr in the eastern Cape Province, South Africa. According to a study in Science magazine in January 2007, the skull has a lifespan of about 36,000 years. Oxford researchers' findings in partnership with Stony Brook University, New York, have evolved evidences that show that humanity comes from sub-Saharan Africa and migrates to the former continent over time. this.

To accomplish this, the team must apply the new method developed by Dr. Richard Bailey and colleagues from the School of Geology and Environment, Archaeological Laboratory and the Department of Earth Sciences. Carbon-dating dating methods cannot be applied to Hofmeyr's skull because a large amount of carbon has been lost from the skull when buried in sediments.

Skull Hofmeyr (Photo: PhysOrg) Instead, scientists measure the amount of radioactive sand in the absorbed skull . They used the results of soil radioisotope measurements in combination with a complex process of converting radioactive parameters from the skull scans to determine when the sand in the skull was absorbed. From the above results, researchers can determine that the Hofmeyr skull was buried for 36,000 years.

Dr. Bailey said in Time magazine: 'It is great that our work is among the most outstanding findings in 2007. This result is the product of the whole team's hard work. Each of them has very valuable contributions. I would love to see the results of studies using this method and also look forward to applying it in new buildings. There are many unexplored things. '

The doctor added: 'A lot of the difficulties that scientists are having in the process of understanding the evolution of mankind and the natural world are in the assumptions related to the milestones of events. important. This is the reason why dating measures are important in many different areas of science. '

This finding plays an important role in understanding the critical stages in the evolutionary history of mankind, especially when fossilized in sub-Saharan Africa, between 15,000 and 70,000 years ago. same little. Around the middle of this period was the time of the emergence of complex stone and bone tools and paintings in sub-Saharan Africa. Modern people were first discovered in Europe and West Asia in the Late Stone Age.

The work at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany, established similarities between Hofmeyr's skull and those of the Late Crucian Stone found in Europe. This finding, along with the new dating method, is eloquent evidence for ' Foreign African ' theory based on genetics. This theory suggests that modern settlers in Late Stone Age West can also live in the sub-Saharan region about 36,000 years ago. The human skull found in South Africa is the first archaeological evidence to help confirm this hypothesis.