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Late Prehistoric Petroleum Collection in Pennsylvania: Radiocarbon Evidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Karen A. Selsor ,
Richard R. Burky ,
Donna L. Kirner ,
Judith E. Thomas ,
John R. Southon  and
R. E. Taylor
Karen A. Selsor
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
Richard R. Burky
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
Donna L. Kirner
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
Judith E. Thomas
Affiliation:
Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute, Mercyhurst College, Erie, Pennsylvania 16546
John R. Southon
Affiliation:
Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550
R. E. Taylor
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
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Abstract

Previous reports using archaeological, ethnohistoric, and historic data have proposed that petroleum was extracted by pre-contact aboriginal populations in western Pennsylvania employing wood-lined pits. A suite of AMS-based 14C analyses on total amino acid extracts on nine duplicate samples from a homogenized decadal (10-year) sample of wood taken from a single stake removed from a pit feature at Drake Well Park, Titusville, Pennsylvania, has permitted the calibration of a mean 14C age of 480 ± 15 B.P. to a 2 sigma (95.4%) confidence interval of A.D. 1415-1440. An early fifteenth-century age for this feature supports the view that petroleum exploitation in this region occurred during Late Woodland times.

Resumen

Resumen

Informes anteriores, empleando informaciones arqueológicas, etnohistóricas e históricas, han propuesto que el petróleo fue extraído por las poblaciones indígenas en Pensilvania occidental, por medio de hoyos forrados de madera. Una sene de análisis radiocarbónicos basados en AMS, sobre extractos aminoácidos totales de nueve muestras duplicadas de una muesta, decadal (de diez años) homogenizada, de madera sacada de una sola estaca removida de un pozo en Drake Well Park, Pensilvania, ha permitido la calibración de una edad radiocarbónica media de 480±15 BP, a un intervalo de confidencia de 2 sigma (95.4%) de A.D. 1414-1440. Una edad del siglo quince para este pozo apoya la opinión de que la explotación del petróleo en esta región ocurrió durante la época Woodland Tardía.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 65 , Issue 4 , October 2000 , pp. 749 - 755
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2000

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References

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