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Luminescence Dating, Uncertainties and Age Range

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Encyclopedia of Scientific Dating Methods

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Definition

Luminescence ages have an uncertainty of at least 4–5 %, mainly due to systematic errors in both dose rate (conversion factors) and equivalent dose (source calibration) estimation. In most cases, the uncertainty will be higher, due to random errors (e.g., spread in equivalent doses) or uncertainty in assumptions (e.g., water content fluctuations, burial history). Dating is possible for a wide age range of a few decades to about half a million years, although uncertainties are usually relatively large toward the extremes of this range.

Uncertainties

As with any method, results of luminescence dating contain errors or uncertainties. Adequate assessment of errors is important, for instance, to correctly assess rates of processes or leads and lags in natural or anthropogenic systems, or contemporaneity of different sites (e.g., Guerin et al., 2013). It is common practice in the luminescence community to present 1-sigma uncertainties, implying that there is a 68 % likelihood...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Soil Geography and Landscape group, Wageningen University, PO Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Jakob Wallinga

  2. Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia

    Alastair C. Cunningham

Authors
  1. Jakob Wallinga
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  2. Alastair C. Cunningham
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Correspondence to Jakob Wallinga .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    W. Jack Rink  & Jeroen W. Thompson  & 

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Wallinga, J., Cunningham, A.C. (2015). Luminescence Dating, Uncertainties and Age Range. In: Jack Rink, W., Thompson, J.W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Scientific Dating Methods. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6304-3_197

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