Is potassium argon dating still used in archaeology and anthropology?

Answer 1

Hello there! To answer your question, yes, potassium-argon (K-Ar dating) is a radiometric dating method which is still used in archaeology. The clock starts when the molten lava begins to cool. The half life of potassium-40 (40K) is 1.3 billion years- this is much longer than the half life of carbon 14 (only 5,730 years)! Because of its longer half life, potassium-argon can date much older samples than carbon 14.