Dating row divides rock art experts

摘要

A row that threatens the reputation of a leading expert in dating prehistoric artwork has thrown studies on rock art into confusion. The dispute emerged at the Australian Archaeometry Conference in Sydney last month, when Warren Beck and Timothy Jull of the University of Arizona in Tucson questioned the work of Ronald Dorn of Arizona State University in Tempe. Dorn had given the researchers five samples that came from the natural coatings covering rock carvings, or petroglyphs, from northeast Arizona's Petrified Forest. A row that threatens the reputation of a leading expert in dating prehistoric artwork has thrown studies on rock art into confusion. The dispute emerged at the Australian Archaeometry Conference in Sydney last month, when Warren Beck and Timothy Jull of the University of Arizona in Tucson questioned the work of Ronald Dorn of Arizona State University in Tempe. Dorn had given the researchers five samples that came from the natural coatings covering rock carvings, or petroglyphs, from northeast Arizona's Petrified Forest.