Advantages and limitations of thermoluminescence dating of heated flint from Paleolithic sites

Abstract

Thermoluminescence (TL) dating is now widely used in the age determination of Paleolithic sites. Although the basic principle of TL-dating is simple, the underlying assumptions are not trivial. One major source of error is the external dose rate, which contributes to a varying degree to the denominator of the age formula and thus has a varying influence on the dating result. The intention of this paper is to enable the user to evaluate TL age determinations of heated flint. The parameters used for age determination and some of their relationships are discussed. It is shown that the reliability of TL results of heated flint depends on the proportion of the various dose-rate parameters and that these are important for the evaluation of ages. The limitations of the method as well as the advantages are discussed. TL-dating results for two Near Eastern Paleolithic sites (Rosh Ein Mor and Jerf al-Ajla) are discussed as examples.

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“…Fifty-four artifacts from Contrebandiers Cave that showed macroscopic traces of heating, such as potlid fractures, crazing, and reddening (Richter 2007), were submitted for TL analysis. Among these, 42 comprised suitable material and were large enough for TL analysis.…”

“…Among these, 42 comprised suitable material and were large enough for TL analysis. Small pieces from the edges of these lithics, and subsequently from the sample's interior, were tested for their suitability (Table 4) and of these, 14 samples passed the test for having been completely zeroed in antiquity (Richter 2007). Preliminary results are reported here for nine of those samples that were collected from Layers IV-2, 5a, 5b, and 5c.…”

“…While the dates reflect a phenomenon that took place after an artifact was made or used, the temporal association between artifact deposition and the time it was burned is usually good. Natural fires rarely occur in caves (see discussion in Alperson-Afil et al 2007), and the heat from natural fire penetrates little into underlying sediment (Bellomo 1993) and is inadequate to heat shallowly buried lithics to the extent necessary for TL dating (Richter 2007). Because only a small fraction of the lithic material from Contrebandiers Cave shows traces of heating, the unlikely occurrence of natural fires in a cave can be excluded, and the heating, therefore, attributed to human activities.…”

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“…This is recognized as a priority but has been deferred until the next stage of investigations at this site. Our prolonged excavation of a single pit, positioned adjacent to the cave wall, did not comply with the requirements for TL sampling (e.g., Liana and Roberts 2006;Richter 2007;Richter and Krbetschek 2006;Richter et al 2007). However, the volume of debitage recovered indicates that there must have been a considerable amount of human activity over a prolonged period of time.…”

FPGA Based Linear Heating System for Measurement of Thermoluminescence

“…Hence, it is essentially needed both for environmental monitoring and for staff personnel in facilities involving radiation exposure, among other applications. TL technique is used in many fields like geology [1], archaeology [3], [5], radiation dosimetry [2], [4] and forensic science and quality control industry.…”