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Gua Sireh, located in western Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo), is known for its rock art. The cave houses hundreds of charcoal drawings depicting people, often with headdresses, knives and other accoutrements. Here, we present direct radiocarbon dates and pigment characterizations from charcoal drawings of two large (>75 cm), unique Gua Sireh human figures (anthropomorphs). To our knowledge, these are the first chronometric ages generated for Malaysian rock art, providing insights into the social contexts of art production, as well as the opportunities and challenges of dating rock art associated with the Malay/Austronesian diasporas in Southeast Asia more generally. Previous archaeological excavations revealed that people occupied Gua Sireh from around 20,000 years ago to as recently as AD 1900. The site is within Bidayuh territory, and these local Indigenous peoples recall the cave's use as a refuge during territorial violence in the early 1800s. The age of the drawings, dated between 280 and 120 cal BP (AD 1670 to 1830), corresponds with a period of increasing conflict when the Malay elites controlling the region exacted heavy tolls on the local hill tribes. We discuss rock art production at Gua Sireh in this context of frontier conflict and Bidayuh resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological evidence indicates that a group of humans arrived in the southern region of Thailand around 40,000 years ago. This hypothesis is based on the discovery of human and animal bones, beads, and ceramics, as well as fossilized freshwater shells. This current study used thermoluminescence (TL) to date freshwater fossil shells from the archeological sites at Cliff Deva Thoud-Ta Thoud-Yai in Songkhla province of Thailand. Organic compounds having unpaired electrons trapped by crystal defects are required for TL dating. The method needs two factors for precise dating: the annual dose and the accumulated doses. We estimate the annual dose using the Dose Rate and Age Calculator (DRAC). Regarding the accumulated dose, we used glow-curve deconvolution (GCD) for general orders of the kinetics. The accumulated dose is determined by the relationship between the TL radiation intensity and the accumulated gamma radiation. Using linear regression, the dependency of TL intensity on dose was modeled. All fossil shells were dated at a temperature of 350°C for TL, and their ages were estimated to be 9485.96 ± 564.13 year. This outcome will ultimately help us understand more about how people in that region lived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the excavation made by Danish naturalist Peter Wilhelm Lund in limestone caverns around Lagoa Santa in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Details on the archaeological site; Discussion on the fossil remains of the limestone caverns and the impossibility of dating; Lund's method of owl-cast dating; Role of Lund in the history of science.

The article reports on the discovery of the oldest fossil of a horseshoe crab, the Lunataspis in Manitoba. The fossil was found during excavations in late Orodvician deposits on the coast of Manitoba by scientists form the Manitoba Museum in Winnepeg and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Scientists say that the fossil dates back 445 million years and looks the ones that ply the North Atlantic. The fossil has been described with long tail spine, and large crescent-shaped head shield with compound eyes closely resembled those of today's horseshoe crab.