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Ceramic chronology by luminescence dating: how and when it is possible to date ceramic artefacts

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Abstract

This paper is intended as a compendium of good practices to assess whether luminescence dating can provide researchers with valuable chronological information for ceramic samples. It is organized into two main sections. The first section provides an introduction to luminescence dating, including its physical principles, the applied measurement procedures, and a brief summary on a new dating technique (RHX) not based on luminescence. This section aims to provide non-specialists with a background on the physical principles underlying luminescence dating, in order to enable an understanding of the issues that may affect the reliability of luminescence ages and a critical assessment of the results from luminescence laboratories. The second section presents a series of case studies which illustrate the use of these methods, how they can be applied, and what results can be obtained.

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Notes

  1. Gy is the SI unit of absorbed dose corresponding to 1 J/kg.

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Acknowledgements

The passion of many researchers during the 40-year activity of our laboratory made all this work possible. We would like particularly to mention Laura Panzeri and Francesco Maspero, experts in OSL and C14 dating techniques.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto di Bioimmagini e Fisiologia Molecolare, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, IBFM-CNR, via F.lli Cervi 93, 20090, Segrate, (MI), Italy

    Anna Galli

  2. Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali, Università Milano-Bicocca, via R. Cozzi 55, 20125, Milan, Italy

    Anna Galli, Emanuela Sibilia & Marco Martini

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  1. Anna Galli
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  2. Emanuela Sibilia
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Correspondence to Anna Galli.

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Galli, A., Sibilia, E. & Martini, M. Ceramic chronology by luminescence dating: how and when it is possible to date ceramic artefacts. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 12, 190 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01140-z

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