The dating procedure involves measuring the mass of a sample of ceramic and then heating it to around 500 degrees Celsius in a furnace, which removes the water. The re-fired ceramic is then weighed immediately, using a highly accurate microbalance, to determine precisely the rate of water recombination.

Which dating method would work best for dating a piece of pottery found in the southwest of the United States?

Dendrochronology, or tree-ring dating, is one of the best tools available to Southwestern archaeologists, but it requires wood from certain tree species, such as oak or Ponderosa pine.