The Baucom Hardaway Site (Peck and Painter)

Work continued off and on for the next couple of years, then a letter arrived from Dr. Haynes on Dec.1, 1982, with the news that the Arizona National Science Foundation Regional Accelerator Facility was operating on a developmental basis and the Baucom Site charcoal was important enough to be given serious consideration for dating. On December 29, 1982, Rodney Peck sent Dr. Haynes 9 samples of charcoal along with a preliminary site report on the Baucom Site. Some of the samples were analyzed and found to be stains of magnesium dioxide (MnO2-n H2O) derived from soil forming processes, however, 3 samples were dated and the results received on March 21, 1984.

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

TUCSON, ARIZONA 85721 USA

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

FACULTY OF SCIENCE
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
BUILDING #81
(602) 621-6820

March 21, 1984

Mr. Rodney Peck
Piedmont Archaeological Society
1539 Quail Drive
Harrisburg, NC 28075
Dear Mr. Peck,
The results of the accelerator mass spectrometric determinations
of carbon-14 on 3 of your samples submitted to Vance Haynes
are given below:
Date no.
(Target no.)
Description
Fraction of
modern carbon
14 C age
AA-349A (906A) Baucom charcoal # 3 0.346 +/-0.014 8526 +/- 320
AA-349B (906B) Baucom charcoal # 3 0.346 +/-0.012 8526 +/- 279
AA-351 (908) Baucom charcoal # 6 0.251 +/-0.048 11,100 +/- 1530
AA-352 (909) Baucom charcoal # 7 0.403 +/- 0.033 7300 +/- 670
There are two measurements on your sample #3. The results were identical, thus we can reduce the error on this measurement, so the age is 8526 +/- 210 years BP. The date on #6 has a very large error, #7 also has a rather large error, we could reduce this by another measurement.
The data above are given in conventional radiocarbon years BP. If you have any questions, please call us at (602) 621-6811 or Vance Haynes.
cc: Vance Haynes
AJTJ:adb


The date 11,100 years B.P. is the first radiocarbon date for the Hardaway Side-Notched projectile point and this date places it directly in the middle range of the Clovis Fluted point time frame. If this date is indeed correct, then the earliest of the 3 older types in the Hardaway Tradition must have a date that begins in the "Early Man" time period (12,000 or more years B.P.). It follows also that the younger Palmer Corner-Notched point is in the middle of the Late Paleo-Indian time frame with an age of about 10,000 years B.P.

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