The Subtraction Technique of Thermoluminescent Dating

Abstract

S Combination of the routine approaches of thermoluminescence dating, the fine‐grain and inclusion methods, allows an age to be determined that is independent of knowledge of the environmental dose‐rate. This socalled subtraction technique is exampled by several terracottas of museum origin and some pottery collected from archaeological contexts without associated burial media. Age determination is estimated to have an accuracy of around ± 12%, in favourable conditions.

Infrared stimulated luminescence measurements of single grains of K-rich feldspar for isochron dating

“…Isochrons were constructed by plotting the D e values as a function of the internal dose rates. The method is similar to the subtraction method proposed by Fleming and Stoneham (1973) for thermoluminescence signals from quartz and feldspar and to more recent isochron methods (e.g. Mejdahl, 1983;Clark, 1994;Zhao and Li, 2002).…”

Archaeometry and Museums: Fifty Years of Curiosity and Wonder*

“…Engendering as much historical misconception, the illicit excavations in the 1980s and early 1990s of Nigerian sites as a result of the strong demand of the art market for Jenne‐jeno terracottas (McIntosh and McIntosh 1986) encouraged the production of high‐quality fakes (Sidibé 1995). TL dating of the traded objects separated forgeries from genuine objects (Fagg and Fleming 1970; Fleming and Stoneham 1973a; Willet and Fleming 1976; Fleming and Fagg 1977; Calvocoressi and David 1979) and largely contributed to the correct chronological classification of the terracotta figurines (De Grunne 1995). However, the accreditation of these genuine objects by TL not only increased the demand for such pieces on the art market, but also gave rise to a new industry of forgeries, in which genuine terracottas were cut into pieces to be included in non‐authentic pieces in areas where samples were usually taken for TL tests (Brent 2001).…”

Archaeological Dating by Thermoluminescence

“…However, water uptake by the fabric of the porous clay body can induce some complicating factors due to attenuation of the true alpha dose. The accuracy of this technique is about 12% (38) and is of particular interest and application when there is a total lack of environmental history, such as authentication.…”