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ULV professor discovers non-invasive dating method

/ photo by Darcelle Jones-Wesley
Felicia Beardsley, professor of anthropology, discusses the history of Nan Madol, an archaeological site near the island of Pohnpei, Micronesia, found through different dating methods, on Aug. 24 in the Executive Board Room. The talk was part of the weekly faculty lecture series. / photo by Darcelle Jones-Wesley

Sarah Van Buskirk
Assistant Sports Editor

Felicia Beardsley, professor of anthropology, discussed whether there are alternate ways to properly date the prehistoric site of Nan Madol in Pohnpei, Micronesia, without destroying its natural foundation during a faculty lecture in the Quay Davis Executive Board Room on Tuesday.

Beardsley said in Micronesia, the collection of oral histories is imperative.

“I’ve been told by chiefs from other islands that all they need is their oral history,” Beardsley said. 

Beardsley said a majority of the information she knows about Nan Madol comes from oral histories. The elders of the island told stories which were then passed down to the younger generations. 

In 2016, Beardsley went on a field project with a large research team to Nan Madol, a prehistoric site located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Beardsley said the island’s architecture is dominated by coral, columnar basalt, boulders and shallow reef platforms.

The project was based around understanding alternate dating mechanisms for sites in the Pacific Islands. Beardsley and the research team discovered new methods for the field in order to determine the age of the island, including no intrusive sample collection, multiple sampling locations and identifying if the coral is freshly harvested or fossilized. 

“Our standard dating method is radiocarbon dating, where you are focused on charcoal predominantly or other kinds of organic materials and where they come from,” Beardsley said.

Beardsley said this current dating method requires excavation and her main goal is to not use excavation by focusing more on breaches in architecture, islet platforms and walls. Beardsley and her team came up with an alternate form of chromometric dating called uranium series dating. 

“When unstable isotopes break down, they break down at a uniform constant rate, which allows you to calculate a date or an age of something based on its ratio of uranium-230 and thorium-230,” Beardsley said.

She said the uranium series dating method is just as good as the current radiocarbon method.

Beardsley said after discovering that coral, which is also the main building material in Micronesia, she and her colleagues began demonstrating to the World Heritage Committee and the Federated States of Micronesia that they could do archeological work without destroying the surface and maintain the integrity of the site.

Beardsley discovered that in some architecture on the island, coral is used for fill. Beardsley said that the fill coral is good for sampling due to its lack of movement or replacement.

Beardsley said oral history dates Nan Madol starting from the 13th century. However, after discovering an alternate dating method, Beardsley and her team identified that Nan Madol dates back to the 9th or 10th century.

“There is a local legend that scientists come and try to figure out everything about the site but Nan Madol will never give up her age, no one will know her true age,” Beardsley said.

Sarah Van Buskirk can be reached at sarah.vanbuskirk@laverne.edu.

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Sarah Van Buskirk is a senior journalism major with a concentration in print and online journalism. She is the Spring 2024 editorial director for the Campus Times and has recently served as editor-in-chief, sports editor and staff writer. She is also currently a staff photographer for the Campus Times and La Verne Magazine, and a staff writer for La Verne Magazine.

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Darcelle Jones-Wesley, a senior photography major, is photography editor of the Campus Times. Her work can also be found at photographybydarcelle.com.

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