EAGER: AMS Dating, Rapid Prototyping and Student Intern for the Tarkio Valley Giant Ground sloth Locality

University Of Iowa, Iowa City IA

Investigators

Abstract

AMS Dating, Rapid Prototyping and Student Intern for the Tarkio Valley Giant Ground sloth Locality Holmes A. Semken, University of Iowa Abstract. Excavation of an extraordinary find, a relatively complete adult ice-age giant ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) associated with two juveniles from the Tarkio Valley in southwest Iowa, is now complete. The recent discovery of a Harlan?s ground sloth (Paramylodon harlani) metacarpal on a gravel bar immediately downstream from the Tarkio locality added a new dimension to the project: there are two entirely different forms of ground sloth in close stratigraphic proximity of one another. The PI requests funds to undertake an AMS C14 dating of these two distinctly different species (and genera) of ground sloth to verify their ages relative to one another. Determining the ages of these two different genera of Pleistocene ground sloths is crucial for understanding their paleobiology and paleoecology. The AMS C14 date is a high risk ? high reward activity in that it is uncertain that its application to long bone medullary cavity materials will be successful; if successful, the new methodology will be transformative for this method. The University of Iowa Plesitocene research program is extraordinary from the standpoint of its outreach to the lay public, undergraduate and graduate students and will continue as a component of this EAGER proposal.