[Aztlan] A question on salt water and radio carbon dating

[michael ruggeri]

Listeros,

You have all read of the discovery of "The Eve of Naharon," the  
skeleton of a woman radio-carbon dated at 11,600 BCE which would make  
her the oldest human ever found in the Americas. But her body has  
been in salt water for a good part of that time. And the minerals in  
salt water can throw off radio carbon dating.

Do any of you know how much this can alter those dates and can it  
alter the dates making the human fossil look older as well as look  
younger? In other words, could "Eve" be older than 11,600 BCE due to  
the salt water altering the radio carbon dates? And is there any way  
to correct for this to get a date on "Eve" that the archaeological  
community can accept as accurate?

Mike Ruggeri