An attempt at dating the Swanscombe skull bones using non-destructive gamma-ray counting

A low-background germanium spectrometer was used to measure the gamma-ray spectra of the three parts of the Swanscombe skull. Detailed studies of the method showed that it was possible to make accurate measurements of the content of 226Ra and 231Pa but less accurate ones of 238U and 235U. Results from the three samples were inconsistent, showing that their exposure to radioactive ground water must have been very different, although they were found close together. The uncertainty in the ratio of 234U to 238U in the ground water and the lack of knowledge of the time at which the bones acquired the uranium also prevented the deduction of any reliable dates for these specimens.