Continued development and application of 40Ar/39Ar dating for archaeometric research

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The 40Ar/39Ar dating method has broad applicability in archeological and paleoanthropological contexts, and is well established as a highly accurate and precise dating tool that has contributed widely to the study of hominin and primate evolution. With National Science Foundation support, the investigators will initiate a three-year effort to maintain, operate and upgrade the 40Ar/39Ar dating facilities at the Berkeley Geochronology Center (BGC) in Berkeley, California. The research studies enabled by this grant are intrinsically interdisciplinary and foster improved interaction between geological, archaeological, and paleoanthropological scientists. In addition, the archaeometric age data produced by BGC are frequently published in high-profile journals that are covered by lay news media, hence receive broad public dissemination in newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and increasingly, the web. Finally, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, many of whom will continue archaeometric research in the future, will receive direct training in the use of the dating facilities, poised to represent the next generation of 40Ar/39Ar geochronologists. Many other graduate students and postdoctoral fellows will receive archaeometric data in direct support of their field studies.This award supports planned equipment repairs and upgrades that will ensure access by the Archaeometric community to a 40Ar/39Ar dating laboratory exercising the best possible practices in this advanced and powerful dating technique, in order to attain the highest possible levels of precision, accuracy and throughput. The planned improvements to equipment and technique will be in the areas of vacuum testing and development of gas extraction systems, computer infrastructure and software development. This funding will also help support a laboratory technician who engages in critical tasks such as sample preparation, irradiation handling, and mass-spectrometer operation. Finally, partial funding is provided for the PIs to liason from the laboratory and in the field with the Archeaometric community in pursuit of project research.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.