The 8,500-Year-Old Skeletons Found In A Texas Cave — And The Ancient DNA Mystery Hidden Inside
The claim that these ancient Texas remains are 7,000 to 8,500 years old is not guesswork.
It rests on a specific scientific technique — radiocarbon dating — that has become one of the most powerful tools in the archaeologist’s repertoire.
Every living organism absorbs carbon from its environment.
Most of that carbon is the stable, non-radioactive form: carbon-12.
But a small fraction — about one part per trillion in the modern atmosphere — is carbon-14, a radioactive isotope produced in the upper atmosphere when cosmic rays strike nitrogen atoms.
Living organisms, because they are constantly incorporating new carbon from food, air, and water, maintain a relatively constant ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 throughout their lives.
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