Hi Karl:

Virtually all geologic (and thereby fossil) material contains some naturally
occurring radioactive material. Radium is one example. In fact, radium
appears in a surprising number of man made historical objects as well,
ranging from luminescent clocks to certain glassware and ceramics. Radon is
a short lived radioactive gas produced by the radioactive deacy of radium. 

Your tusk contains radium. The radon gas has nothing to do with C14 dating.

How did you find out the tusk is emmitting radon? Radon is prety common in
the environment. I believe a large portion of a human's annual exposure
comes from radon.

I would suggest calling a health physicist or someone from your state
nuclear regulatory agency or local unniversity nuclear safety department.
Tell them what you have and see what they suggest. The ammounts of radiation
involved are probably very small, posing little or no risk.

Hope this helps!


________________________
Mark D. Hanson
Curator 
Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum 
1011 Pacesetter Drive 
Rantoul, Illinois   61866-3672
217-893-1613  *  217-892-5774 (fax) 
[log in to unmask]




-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Curator
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 2:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Radon in mastodon tusk

A recent survey of our collections has found a mastodon tusk.  
Unfortunately it has radon in it.  As  the curator of a modest sized
historical society, what is the best course of action to take?  (Does radon
have anything to do with Carbon-14 dating?)  My specialty is local history,
not archaeology.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Karl Wolff, Curator
History Center at Olmsted County
Rochester, MN

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