At https://iflscience.com/a-new-look-at-some-old-fossils-has-just-rewritten-the-story-of-human-evolution-72092 … we are told there are problems in dating fossil skulls and human bone. A new study by the Australian National University in Canberra, in cooperation with the Natural History Museum in London, has come up with some new dates. We learn that the hobbits of Flores Island were misdated. The reason, it was the sediment they were found in that came up with the date. In other words the sediment could have been much younger than the remains of the hobbits. They appear to be ignoring the possibility of sediment washed into the cave at a later date, which is understandable as it is the era of the hobbits that is the root of the enquiry. When the bones themselves were dated by a new method the old date of 12,000 years ago vanished. Much to the relief of scientists, one might say. The bones themselves lay in what is called an ‘unconformity‘ – and they were much older than the sediment. The hobbits lived more than 60,000 years ago, it is alleged. That makes sense. The earlier date did not. Likewise, a new species from the Philippines, Homo luzonensis, was dated at 65,000 years ago – but they have now been found to be at least twice that age. That brings them to around the last Interglacial Period, or Eemian.
The re-analysis was done using radiometry techniques. The same process was applied to other skulls – including those of Neanderthals and modern Humans in the Levant and elsewhere. The full paper is at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379123004274 … which provides pages of information on the dating methodology and how it works and how it is applied. An excellent resource in itself and worth saving for future reference. Most papers are light on methodology, or it is included in an appendix.