Radiocarbon Dating of Ancient Canoes from Guangxi, China

Yongjing Guan, Xiangdong Ruan, Zhaoming Xiong, Huijuan Wang, Filippo Terassi

Abstract


Several canoes were excavated from coastal rivers in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, southwest China. In order to confirm the age of the canoes, 6 samples were selected for radiocarbon dating from 3 canoes. The mean value of canoe NLJ was 365 ± 35 BP, and 2 samples from canoes MLJ and DFJ were 520 ± 21 and 499 ± 33 BP, respectively. The calendar ages cover a period from AD 1328 to 1641 at the 95% confidence level. These results disagree with previous studies that suggested canoes were only used over 1000 yr ago in China. We discuss the possible reasons for the results being younger than expected.

DOI: 10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16212


Keywords


AMS; radiocarbon dating; Archaeology

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