Development and application of the Uranium-series method for dating ancient rock engravings

放射性碳测年已被用来确定相对较新的澳大利亚岩石艺术的年龄，但古代雕刻的年龄不能超过这种方法的限制。将对从天然矿藏中收集的两个测试样本进行放射性碳和铀系列的比较分析，这些矿藏位于受湖泊、熔岩流、沉积矿床或冰的年龄限制的雕刻地点。使用具有独立和放射性碳年龄控制的测试样品将使人们对铀测年方法有信心，该方法可可靠地测量与世界各地古代雕刻和裸露岩石表面有关的类似涂层的年龄。

Radiocarbon dating has been used to establish the age of relatively recent Australian rock art, but the ages of ancient engravings cannot be measured beyond the limit of this method. Comparative radiocarbon and uranium-series assays will be made on pairs of test samples collected from natural mineral deposits at engraving locations constrained by the ages of lakes, lava flows, sedimentary deposits or ice. Using test samples with independent and radiocarbon age controls will give confidence in the uranium dating approach for reliably measuring the ages of similar coatings associated with ancient carvings and exposed rock surfaces throughout the world.