Optical Dating of Sediment Samples from Bir Tarfawi and Bir Sahara East: an Initial Report

Abstract

A number of calcareous fine sand and silt-sized sediment samples were collected from Bir Tarfawi and Bir Sahara East in February 1988 under the direction of Professor Fred Wendorf. The samples were submitted to RLAHA for age assessment using the recently developed optical or optically-stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating technique. This article documents the results obtained for nine of those samples submitted. Upon completion of further investigations, age assessments for the remainder of the samples will be discussed elsewhere.