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1. A Rejoinder on the Value of Archaeomagnetic Dating: Integrative Methodology Is the Key to Addressing Levantine Iron Age Chronology

   Stillinger, M. D.; Feinberg, J. M.; Ben-Yosef, E.; Shaar, R.; Hardin, J. W.; Blakely, J. A. (January 2018, Near Eastern archaeology)

   Archaeomagnetic dating is a firmly established dating technique applicable to a wide variety of heat-treated anthropological materials and is advantageous for sites that lack materials suitable for radiocarbon dating. To correct recent misinterpretations of the method, we provide examples of how archaeomagnetic dating curves are calibrated and show how, in some instances, the technique can provide superior results. We emphasize that no single dating technique is capable of resolving the challenging chronology controversies in the Levant, and instead argue that multiple dating methods must be integrated in order to achieve the highest possible temporal resolution. 

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2. Using Radiometric Dating, Magnetostratigraphy, and Tephrostratigraphy to Calibrate Rates of Hominin Evolution in the East African Rift

   https://doi.org/10.2138/gselements.19.2.88  

   Deino, Alan L.; Gibert, Luis; Vidal, Céline M. (April 2023, Elements)

   Age-calibration of hominin fossils and artifacts in the East African Rift is principally achieved through dating of associated volcanic-sedimentary strata. The dominant dating techniques for sites ≳100 ka are the 40Ar/39Ar radiometric dating method, magnetostratigraphy, and tephrostratigraphy. The 40Ar/39Ar technique relies on the occurrence of volcanic deposits in the target strata, which are often present as a consequence of the interplay of rift formation and volcanic activity. The frequency of datable material may be limited; however, by also applying the relative dating methods of magnetostratigraphy and tephrostratigraphy to these same strata, a chronostrati-graphic framework can be built and applied to fossiliferous strata. This chapter provides examples of the application of these techniques at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, and two areas of the East African Rift in Ethiopia. 

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3. Sublithospheric diamond ages and their geodynamic implications

   Timmerman, Suzettte; Zhang, Qiwei; Stachel, Thomas; Smit, Karen V; Harris, Jeffrey W; Shirey, Steven B; Pearson, D Graham (July 2024, Journal of International Kimberlite Conference Abstracts (JIKCA))

   Over the past decades, dating inclusions in lithospheric diamonds has advanced from analysing tens of pooled inclusions to single sulphide Re-Os analyses and single silicate Sm-Nd analyses, resulting in a fair global coverage of lithospheric diamond ages (Smit et al. 2022) and linking these to tectonomagmatic events. On the other hand, dating of inclusions in sublithospheric diamonds is incredibly limited, mainly due to the rarity of sulphide inclusions and complex retrogressed Ca-silicate phases in already scarce sublithospheric diamonds. Yet, sublithospheric diamonds are important from both a scientific and economic perspective, representing the deepest pristine samples of Earth’s mantle and some of the most valuable diamonds recovered. Understanding their chemical signatures in a broader geological context requires dating such samples. Here we will review the recent progress in dating inclusions in sublithospheric diamonds and discuss their link to the supercontinent cycle and emplacement history. 

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4. Not Just a Preference: Reducing Biased Decision-making on Dating Websites

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3517587  

   Ma, Zilin; Gajos, Krzysztof Z. (April 2022, CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’22))

   As dating websites are becoming an essential part of how people meet intimate and romantic partners, it is vital to design these systems to be resistant to, or at least do not amplify, bias and discrimination. Instead, the results of our online experiment with a simulated dating website, demonstrate that popular dating website design choices, such as the user of the swipe interface (swiping in one direction to indicate a like and in the other direction to express a dislike) and match scores, resulted in people racially biases choices even when they explicitly claimed not to have considered race in their decision-making. This bias was significantly reduced when the order of information presentation was reversed such that people first saw substantive profile information related to their explicitly-stated preferences before seeing the profile name and photo. These results indicate that currently-popular design choices amplify people's implicit biases in their choices of potential romantic partners, but the effects of the implicit biases can be reduced by carefully redesign the dating website interfaces. 

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5. Integrating geochronologic and instrumental approaches across the Bengal Basin

   https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4687  

   Chamberlain, Elizabeth L.; Goodbred, Steven L.; Hale, Richard; Steckler, Michael S.; Wallinga, Jakob; Wilson, Carol (November 2019, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms)

   ABSTRACT Constraining time is of critical importance to evaluating the rates and relative contributions of processes driving landscape change in sedimentary basins. The geomorphic character of the field setting guides the application of geochronologic or instrumental tools to this problem, because the viability of methods can be highly influenced by geomorphic attributes. For example, sediment yield and the linked potential for organic preservation may govern the usefulness of radiocarbon dating. Similarly, the rate of sediment transport from source to sink may determine the maturity and/or light exposure of mineral grains arriving in the delta and thus the feasibility of luminescence dating. Here, we explore the viability and quirks of dating and instrumental methods that have been applied in the Bengal Basin, and review the records that they have yielded. This immense, dynamic, and spatially variable system hosts the world's most inhabited delta. Outlining a framework for successful chronologic applications is thus of value to managing water and sediment resources for humans, here and in other populated deltas worldwide. Our review covers radiocarbon dating, luminescence dating, archaeological records and historical maps, short‐lived radioisotopes, horizon markers and rod surface elevation tables, geodetic observations, and surface instrumentation. Combined, these tools can be used to reconstruct the history of the Bengal Basin from Late Pleistocene to present day. The growing variety and scope of Bengal Basin geochronology and instrumentation opens doors for research integrating basin processes across spatial and temporal scales. © 2019 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 

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