Archaeologists and physicists have developed a revolutionary dating technique known as Xenon-133 Isotopic Refinement, according to a study in Nature Communications. This methodology allows for the dating of coastal artifacts with unprecedented precision by measuring the decay of xenon isotopes trapped in ancient mineral glazes, filling a critical gap in the chronology of the Neolithic transition in Western India.
By applying this technique to several sites in the Rann of Kutch, the research has pushed back the arrival of sedentary maritime communities to 4500 BCE. This level of resolution enables scholars to correlate archaeological shifts with specific sea-level changes, offering a much more granular view of how early maritime societies adapted to shifting coastlines.