TL dating of heated flint using MAAD and SAR protocols

Abstract

Nowadays, the Single Aliquot Regenerative Dose (SAR) protocol introduced by Murray & Wintle [1] is routinely used for OSL dating of sediments. However, its application to TL dating, especially of heated flint, is still not well established.
We compared the results for 5 heated silex samples from Jordan measured with a SAR and a modified MAAD protocol varying the way we process the data obtained. For each protocol, the palaeodose will be estimated by (1) two different approaches, the classical Growth Curve approach and the De Plateau approach; (2) two different models, the unweighted and the weighted linear regression; and (3) different temperature intervals. We show that the differences between the SAR and the MAAD protocol are in the same range or smaller than the differences introduced by a different data processing. All results were produced using a series of new tools for TL dating developed in R that are complementary to the existing Luminescence Package [2].
If, for the same sample, the use of a weighted linear regression tends to increase the De and the plateau approach tends to produce a De lower than the Growth Curve approach, the SAR De is sometimes higher, sometimes lower than the MAAD De. Not surprisingly, the temperature interval is the parameter having most influence on the De estimation. Surprisingly, for all the samples except one, the second factor having the higher influence on the De is not the protocol choice but the use of a weighted or an unweighted regression.
Even if more samples are needed for a final conclusion, it seems that, for TL dating of heated silex, the SAR protocol provides as reliable results as the MAAD protocol. Moreover, extra care should be given to the way the final palaeodose is estimated, especially when different approaches and regression methods provide highly different results.
This project was realized in the context of the CRC 806 “Our way to Europe” funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The heated silex used come from the Palaeolithic site of Taibeh, Wadi Sabra (Jordan). The artefacts are associated with the Masraqan technocomplex, which is currently dated between 16 and 20 ka BC (MIS2). [3]

[1] Murray & Wintle (2000). Luminescence dating of quartz using an improved single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol. Radiation Measurements, Vol.32, No.1, p.57-73
[2] Kreutzer et al. (2012). Introducing an R package for luminescence dating analysis. Ancient TL, Vol.30 No.1, p.1-8.
[3] Belfer-Cohen, et al. (2007). From the beginning: Levantine Upper Paleolithic cultural change and chronology. Rethinking the Human Revolution. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research Monorgaphs Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 199-206.

Resources

• Giessen poster David Strebler.pdf

Bibliography

Strebler, D., Brill, D., Brückner, H. (2016): TL dating of heated flint using MAAD and SAR protocols.