Quaternary Geochemist
Illinois State Geological Survey
Prairie Research Institute
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
hongwang@illinois.edu
My research interest in this project is to develop methodology for accurate 14C dating on organic remains, (e.g., wood, charcoal, collagen, sediments) and inorganic carbon (e.g., ostrich egg shell, marine and terrestrial animal shells, and tooth enamel apatite). For the archeological chronologies including the Middle Stone Age, which are near the 14C dating limits, high-temperature pyrolysis technology is developed to convert organic remains into the graphitic-like carbon forms. The graphitic-like carbon is the most resistant to weathering and least likely to be contaminated by active or inert carbon sources. The high-temperature pyrolysis pretreatment on organic remains provides the most reliable 14C dates for older than 45,000 years BP. Students interested in this topic will study 14C dating in my lab, and these results are critical for understanding when these foragers lived in East Africa.
Publications
2014. Prendergast, M.E. Grillo,K.M., Mabulla, A.Z.P., Wang, H. New Dates for Kansyore and Pastoral Neolithic Ceramics in the Eyasi Basin, Tanzania. Journal of African Archaeology, 12014, pp. DOI 10.3213/2191-5784-10245
Keenan-Jones, Duncan Campbell, Anneleen Foubert, Davide Motta, Glenn Fried, Mayandi Sivaguru, Mauricio M. Perillo, Julia Waldsmith, Hong Wang, Marcelo H. Garcia, and Bruce W. Fouke. (Forthcoming, 2014). “Hierarchical Stratigraphy of Travertine Deposition in Ancient Roman Aqueducts.” In Atti del Convegno Lazio e Sabina X, 4-6 giugno 2013, edited by Zaccaria Mari, 13–15.
2013. Cheng, P., Zhou, W., Wang, H., Lu, X., and Du, H. 14C dating of soil organic carbon (SOC) in loess-paleosol using sequential pyrolysis and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). Radiocarbon 55, 563-570.
2012. Brandt, S.A., Fisher, E.C., Hildebrand, E.A., Vogelsang, R., Ambrose, S.H., Lesur, J., Wang, H. Early MIS 3 occupation of Mochena Borago Rockshelter, Southwest Ethiopian Highlands: Implications for Late Pleistocene archaeology, paleoenvironments and modern human dispersals. Quaternary International 271, 38-54.
2012. Demeter, F., Shackelford, L.L., Bacon, A.M., Duringer, P., Westaway, K., Sayavongkhamdy, T., Braga, J., Sichanthongtip, P., Khamdalavong, P., Ponche, J-L., Wang, H., Lundstrom, C., Patole-Edoumba, E., Karpoff, A-M., Anatomically modern human in Southeast Asia (Laos) by 46 ka. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109, 14375-14380.
2010. Wang, H., Ambrose, S., Headman, K., and Emerson, T. AMS 14C dating of human bones using sequential pyrolysis and combustion of collagen. Radiocarbon 52 (1) 157-163.
2003. Wang, H., Hackley, K.C., Panno, S.V., Coleman, D.D., Liu, J. C-L., and Brown, J. Pyrolysis combustion 14C dating of soil organic matter. Quaternary Research 60, 348-355.
1997. Wang, H., Ambrose, S.H., Liu, J.C-L., and Follmer, L.R. Paleosol stable isotope evidence for early Hominid Occupation of East Asian Temperate environments. Quaternary Research. 48, 228-238.