Testing the Possibility of Palaeontology Dating via Gamma-Ray Spectrometry

Abstract

Fossil age determination is essential for understanding the evolutionary chronicle of life. Relative dating by ordering fossils in accordance to rock layers sometimes needs support from absolute techniques based on radioactivity. Among the latter, well-established procedures help our understanding of how species changed in time intervals of thousands (radiocarbon) to millions (uranium-lead) of years. The uranium-thorium technique suits better the intermediary range, and is typically used by means of alpha spectrometry, but we intend to test the non-destructive gamma-ray protocol in order to date, or at least authenticate such samples. After carrying out the measurements with a HPGe detection system in low background, our first results indicate the method can be successfully applied on the condition the background is reduced even more; still, the possibility of authentication was evidenced from the f irst test. We also present a potential solution for future method development by thermal neutron irradiation.