Replies to post #37299 on Deep Blue Marine (DPBE)

[Peggy]

Of course not.

[nebula2012]

Hey Z..Not Easy Dating The Mayan Artifacts

Carbon dating is tough because of natural high radioactivity in Central/South American soils, readings can be inaccurate to several hundreds of years.

Dating by examining the surroundings where the artifacts were found is out since they were recovered from a 450 year old shipwreck.

What we do know is that The Mayans stopped most jade carvings about 500AD when they went over to gold. The Mayans go back to 1500 BC, which is a pretty wide time frame. Plus the jade and other carvings we have found were normally considered heirlooms and usually handed down through generations.

The interesting thing is that I'm sure the Spanish had their own grinding tables and accessories on ship, so why drag a Mayan grinding table through the woods??? It seems that there were actual Mayans that came back with the Spanish and were on board.

This would explain the presence of the table and heirlooms. That itself, would be a very exciting and historic find. I can't find any evidence that a Mayan grinding table was EVER found on a shipwreck.

[highpockets]

Carbon dating is limited to objects that were once living. Will not work on metal, stone, minerals or gems. It would however, work on the wooden chest to give an approximate date as to when the tree died.