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Age of the Harrison Street Beast: Electron paramagnetic resonance spectra from tooth enamel
Workers doing road reconstruction in 1993 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, uncovered remains of a large skeleton and contacted archaeologists for assessment prior to continuing work. The archaeologists excavated the remains which were located in a 19-cm thick layer of blue glay, a pedological deposit which forms from wet, anaerobic environments associated with bogs. This glay layer was located some 2 meters below the current ground level (Davenport 1996). In this paper, the authors present the results of an EPR analysis of tooth enamel (biogenic hydroxyapatite) from the Harrison Street Beast. The objectives of this study are: (1) determine an age for the specimen through EPR analysis of molar tooth enamel; (2) resolve and identify the radiation sensitive EPR spectral components; and (3) develop a provisional model for the creation of radiation-sensitive components in the EPR spectra