What can luminescence do for you? Luminescence dating at Swedish archaeological sites

The Research Seminar Series in Archaeology and Environmental archaeology invites you to a seminar with Helena Alexanderson, Lund University. "What can luminescence do for you? Experiences of luminescence dating at Swedish archaeological sites".

Learn more about Helena Alexanderson

Abstract

Luminescence dating encompasses a set of techniques that can be applied to materials that contain the minerals quartz or feldspar, and it covers an age range from around 10 years to more than 500 000 years. Among the more common varieties are thermoluminescence (TL), mainly applied to pottery and other fired materials; optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), more often applied to sediment; and luminescence profiling (POSL), a relative dating tool. Apart from some older TL dating, luminescence has not been used very much in Swedish archaeological contexts. However, at the Lund Luminescence Laboratory (LLL) we have during the last few years worked together with archaeologists to explore applications of luminescence in different settings and the number of archaeological luminescence ages is increasing.

In this talk, I’ll give a brief overview of how the method works and then move on to a series of archaeological case studies, based on research at the LLL. The dated settings include, for example, road tracks, cairns, floors, ovens and hearths, wall remains and sand-covered cultural layers with a time span from the Neolithic to Medieval and historic times. The aim is to show what the technique can and cannot do in practice, and to offer a sense of what luminescence can contribute to research questions about, for example, construction histories, site use, and broader landscape development.

About the seminar series

The Research Seminar Series in Archaeology and Environmental Archaeology presents and discusses current research in archaeology and environmental archaeology.
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