Dating Techniques

This dating technique was first conducted by Hare and Mitterer in 1967, and was popular in the 1970s. It requires a much smaller sample than radiocarbon dating, and has a longer range, extending up to a few hundred thousand years. It has been used to date coprolites (fossilized feces) as well as fossil bones and shells. These types of specimens contain proteins embedded in a network of minerals such as calcium.

Amino acid racimization is based on the principle that amino acids (except glycine, which is a very simple amino acid) exist in two mirror image forms called stereoisomers. Living organisms (with the exception of some microbes) synthesize and incorporate only the L-form into proteins. This means that the ratio of the D-form to the L-form is zero (D/L=0). When these organisms die, the L-amino acids are slowly converted into D-amino acids in a process called racimization. This occurs because protons (H⁺) are removed from the amino acids by acids or bases present in the burial environment. The protons are quickly replaced, but will return to either side of the amino acid, not necessarily to the side from which they came. This may form a D-amino acid instead Dendrochronology is a dating technique that makes use of tree growth rings. Photograph by Charles Krebs. The Stock Market. Reproduced by permission. of an L-amino acid. The reversible reaction eventually creates equal amounts of L- and D-forms (D/L=1.0).

The rate at which the reaction occurs is different for each amino acid; in addition, it depends upon the moisture, temperature, and pH of the postmortem conditions. The higher the temperature, the faster the reaction occurs, so the cooler the burial environment, the greater the dating range. The burial conditions are not always known, however, and can be difficult to estimate. For this reason, and because some of the amino acid racimization dates have disagreed with dates achieved by other methods, the technique is no longer widely used.