Decline in firing technology or poorer fuel resources? High-temperature thermoluminescence (HTTL) archaeothermometry of Neolithic ceramics from Pool, Sanday, Orkney

Abstract

The Neolithic ceramic assemblage from the multi-period coastal settlement at Pool on the island of Sanday, Orkney is unique because it stratigraphically spans both the earlier roundbased (including possible Unstan bowls) and later flat-based ('Grooved Ware') traditions.High-temperature thermoluminescence (HTTL) analysis objectively demonstrates that ceramics from the earliest Neolithic layers have been consistently better fired compared to examples from later layers. We suggest two interpretations of these data: either firing technology declined with changing social structures and/or adoption of a different ceramic tradition or that there was greater pressure on fuel resource and management in the later Neolithic. Paleoenvironmental and chronological evidence indicate climatic deterioration in the later Neolithic, which adds further support to an interpretation of a poorer fuel resource at that time. In addition to studies of the HTTL signal, analysis of the ambient temperature modification of the TL signal has potential to support or evaluate dating evidence, and is readily applicable to optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) age data. Spencer and Sanderson: HTTL archaeothermometry of Neolithic ceramics from Pool-2 -Highlights >We have studied high-temperature thermoluminescence of Neolithic ceramics from Pool >Ceramics from earliest Neolithic are consistently better fired than later examples >Reduced thermal exposure correlates with poorer fuel resources and palaeoclimate >Ambient temperature TL identifies stratigraphic relationships in luminescence ages

Feldspar SARA IRSL dating of very low dose rate aeolian sediments from Sandwick South, Unst, Shetland

“…This is consistent with previous studies at SUERC using similar preheating conditions (e.g. Spencer and Sanderson, 2012).…”

Refining the Chronology of the Neolithic Settlement at Pool, Sanday, Orkney: Implications for the Emergence and Development of Grooved Ware

“…All four of the luminescence ages from Phase 3.1 (100%) have been excluded as misfits from the model shown in Figure 12, seven of nine (78%) from Phase 2.3, four of ten (40%) from Phase 2.2, four of nine (44%) from Phase 2.1, and two of nine (22%) from Phase 1. This may support the suggestion of higher firing temperatures for these earlier ceramics derived from high-temperature thermoluminescence archaeothermometry (Spencer & Sanderson 2012, 3546). We also note that the posterior density estimates for the boundaries of Phase 2.1 (during which the first flat-based pottery occurs at Pool) from the model shown in Figure 12 are compatible with an emergence of this pottery tradition in the last centuries of the 4th millennium cal bc ( Phase 1/Phase 2.1 and Phase 2.1/Phase 2.2-2.3 ; Fig.…”

“…At Pool the deep stratigraphic sequence, with apparently clear marker horizons provided by the blown sand deposits, could potentially provide highly informative prior information to produce a refined chronology for the site. A limited number of radiocarbon dates had been obtained from selected Neolithic phases as part of the original post-excavation analysis, and a larger suite of thermoluminescence (TL) measurements had been produced on the feldspar component of a range of sherds from the entire Neolithic sequence (Hunter 2007, appx 2; Spencer & Sanderson 2012). From the evidence for settlement before and after the two major sand blows, Hunter suggested that these events produced no major effect on settlement continuity, and that Neolithic activity appeared to have gone on at the site for 'slightly less than two millennia'.…”

“…Clarke et al 1985) for a putative emergent elite or community leadership of some kind (Sheridan & Brophy 2012;Sheridan 2014). There were other changes, in settlement architecture and organisation, with the Skara Brae 'village' illustrating a process of agglomeration (Clarke 1976;2012). There are also hints that agricultural production may have intensified over these centuries, as suggested by the evidence for manuring (Sharples 1985;Dockrill & Bond 2009).…”

Particle temperature measurements in closed chamber detonations using thermoluminescence from Li2B4O7:Ag,Cu, MgB4O7:Dy,Li and CaSO4:Ce,Tb

“…The concept of using TL for temperature measurements, described earlier in other contexts [27][28][29] and more recently in the context of particle thermometry [17,18], is the reverse of the radiation measurement concept. For temperature measurements one starts with irradiated particles and exposes those to the temperature environment to be measured (e.g.…”