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The date of the Tamalin Site was first determined as part of the ¡§An Archaeological Study of the Chuoshui River and Tatu River Areas in Taiwan Province¡¨ led by the late Chang Kuang-chih. The charcoal samples unearthed by Richard stamps at Tamalin were dated by Carbon-14 dating to a time range between 2400¡V1700B.P. A second batch of carbon-14 data came from excavation work done by Liu Yi-chang on land used by dormitories at Puli Senior High School in 1996. charcoal samples collected from prehistoric cultural strata were tested by the Carbon-14 Dating Laboratory, in National Taiwan University¡¦s Department of Geosciences. Revised data dated the samples as coming from around 2700¡V2500B.P. effectively indicating that the Tamalin site is older than previously thought (please refer to table one).
Table One: Carbon-14 Dating of the Tamalin Site
| Specimen No |
Unearthed test pit position |
Underground depth (cm) |
Carbon-14 Dating 5730¡Ó40 Half-life |
Date correction |
Data source |
| NTU-192 |
PA-B Eastern section |
|
1836¡Ó55B.P. |
1700-1840 |
Chang Kuang-chih ed. 1977: 429; Shih Chang-ju, Liu Yi-chang 1987: 143 |
| NTU-193 |
PA-B Western section |
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1892¡Ó60B.P. |
1770-1880 |
Chang Kuang-chih ed. 1977: 429; Shih Chang-ju, Liu Yi-chang 1987: 143 |
| NTU-194 |
PC L4 |
120-150 |
1901¡Ó60B.P. |
1770-1880 |
Chang Kuang-chih ed. 1977: 429; Shih Chang-ju, Liu Yi-chang 1987: 143 |
| NTU-195 |
PC L5 |
150-180 |
2167¡Ó65B.P. |
1960-2340 |
Chang Kuang-chih ed. 1977: 429; Shih Chang-ju, Liu Yi-chang 1987: 143 |
| NTU-196 |
PD L3 |
70 |
2263¡Ó70B.P. |
2150-2370 |
Chang Kuang-chih ed. 1977: 429; Shih Chang-ju, Liu Yi-chang 1987: 143 |
| NTU-2436 TML-01 |
T01P02B L3b |
130 |
2710¡Ó90B.P. |
2777 |
Liu Yi-chang 2000: 57 |
| NTU-2437 TML-02 |
T0P02 L2a |
145 |
2560¡Ó70B.P. |
2720 |
Liu Yi-chang 2000: 57 |
| NTU-2433 TML-03 |
T0P01C |
130 |
2500¡Ó70B.P. |
2708 2580 2539 2526 2514 2405 2402 |
Liu Yi-chang 2000: 57 |
Department of Anthropology of National Museum of Natural Science the Tamalin Site in 2001 collected potsherd samples and sent them to the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry in Mainland China where thermo-luminescent dating (TL Dating) was conducted. The results are shown in table 2.
Table Two: Thermo-Luminescent Dates of Potsherds from the Tamalin Site
| Lab No |
Specimen No |
Test Pit Position |
Strata Position |
Description of Specimen |
Thermo-luminescent Dating |
| TD-668 |
TML-2001-01 |
WBP-e1 |
L21 |
Coarse grayish sandy pottery |
2540¡Ó200B.P. |
| TD-669 |
TML-2001-02 |
P13 |
L6 |
Fine grayish black pottery |
1580¡Ó120B.P. |
| TD-670 |
TML-2001-03 |
WBP-e2 |
L20 |
Grayish coarse sandy pottery |
2600¡Ó200B.P. |
| TD-671 |
TML-2001-04 |
WBP-d1 |
L19 |
Grayish orange fine sandy wares |
2620¡Ó210B.P. |
| TD-672 |
TML-2001-05 |
WBP-e1 |
L17 |
Grayish orange fine sandy wares |
2650¡Ó210B. |
The table showing the TL dates of the potsherds indicates that they can be broadly divided into two time periods: Grayish coarse sandy wares and Grayish orange fine sandy wares, with a concentration in the period 2650¡V2540B.P. In addition, the Fine grayish black pottery is dated at 1580B.P. almost one thousand years later than the other specimens. From the location where the Fine grayish black pottery sample was unearthed we can determine that it is an object left behind by the deceased from a relatively later period. According to Ceramic seriatim conducted by WBP a similar conclusion can also be reached, namely that clay and sand tempered of black pottery are examples of pottery vessels from relatively late in the life of the Tamalin Site. The TL dates of this batch of potsherds broadly concurs with the range of earlier Carbn-14 dates, though the later dates have been extended around 100 years though this does fall within the range of the margin error (Ho chuan-kun, Liu Ko-hung, Chen Hao-wei, 2001).
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| TNT-Coarse grayish sandy pottery |
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| TNT-Grayish fine sandy wares |
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| TNT-Grayish orange fine sandy wares |
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