Humans ventured as far as Torquay more than 40,000 years ago [ Kents Cavern, Devon ]

Guardian UK ^ | Wednesday, November 2, 2011 | Ian Sample

[Pollster1]

Thanks, guys. I don’t remember a whole lot from my Geology classes, but I think the scientists reckon that the earliest forms of life on the planet go back to the Pre-Cambrian Era, around four billion years ago. I’m thinking that’s a WAG.

Not really a WAG. Methods such as uranium-lead dating of zircon allow for what theory suggests is an extremely accurate date, well beyond the age of the earth if necessary. I'm sure the Internet has a description, but the bottom line is that the method should be reliable. [Then you draw inferences from strata, and that may be risky, but at least the uranium-lead dates have a reliable basis.]

[Ax]

Clearly, you know more about this than me. I took my geology classes from the head of the Department of Earth Sciences at the U. of Leeds. When NASA sent the moon rocks around, they went to Leeds, marked for Dr. Hornung.

[struggle]

Half life of c14 is 5,000. It becomes increasingly more difficult to judge decay as time goes on.

[struggle]

Sunken Civ - I don't appreciate you insulting others.
Please seek help.
http://www.amazon.com/Miss-Manners-Guide-Turn-Millennium/dp/067172228X

[colorado tanker]

I read on one of these threads that humans and our ancestors have tried to colonize Britain seven times. But the ice always returns.

Fortunately, humans really can't influence climate in any significant way or those morons would have us descending into an ice age prematurely.

[Steve Van Doorn]

A quote from wikipida (in this case isn't bad):
"Plants take up atmospheric carbon dioxide by photosynthesis, and are ingested by animals, so every living thing is constantly exchanging carbon-14 with its environment as long as it lives. Once it dies, however, this exchange stops, and the amount of carbon-14 gradually decreases through radioactive beta decay with a half-life of 5,730 ± 40 years"

If they decay is over 10 half-life's of the radioactive substance it becomes guess work when the half life started if you take into account all other natural variables acting on the subject. With CO-14 that is anything over 60,000 years it becomes questionable.

[Steve Van Doorn]

Torquay I find it odd your name is from the same location they found these bones. Are you from Torquay England?

Myself and I am sure even SunkenCiv would like to hear why these bones are less than 1,500 years old.

[SunkenCiv]

The half life of C14 is 5568 years. It’s not more difficult to measure, there’s just less of it — which is why it is a nice way to measure things of organic origin which are younger than 50K years. Not surprisingly, most things that can be carbon-dated don’t reach that age, they vanish.

[SunkenCiv]

Struggle, I don’t appreciate being told what to do by you or anyone. I will continue to talk any way I wish to whomever I wish, and if you don’t like it, tough.

[struggle]

>>Struggle, I don’t appreciate being told what to do by you or anyone. I will continue to talk any way I wish to whomever I wish, and if you don’t like it, tough.

Just trying to help, noob.

[Torquay]

Your controlled world view is being challenged... get over it, if you can! Your understanding of science is only what you were taught to think.