Gliganic Luke Andrew, Meyer Michael Christian, May Jan-Hendrik, Aldenderfer Mark Steven, Tropper Peter
Institute for Geology, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
School of Geography, University of Melbourne, 221 Bouverie St, Carlton, VIC 3053, Australia.
Sci Adv. 2021 Jun 2;7(23). doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abb3424. Print 2021 Jun.
Archaeological surface assemblages composed of lithic scatters comprise a large proportion of the archaeological record. Dating such surface artifacts has remained inherently difficult owing to the dynamic nature of Earth-surface processes affecting these assemblages and because no satisfactory chronometric dating technique exists that can be directly applied to constrain the timing of artifact manufacture, discard, and thus human use of the landscape. Here, we present a dating approach based on optically stimulated luminescence (OSL)-OSL rock-surface burial dating-and apply it to a lithic surface scatter in Tibet. We generate OSL burial ages (age-depth profiles) for each artifact, outline the methodological complexities, and consider the artifact burial ages in the context of local-scale Earth-surface dynamics. The oldest age cluster between 5.2 and 5.5 thousand years is likely related to quarrying activities at the site and thus represents the oldest chronometric age constraints for human presence on the south-central Tibetan plateau.
由石片散布物组成的考古地表组合在考古记录中占很大比例。由于影响这些组合的地表过程具有动态性，且不存在能够直接应用于确定人工制品制造、丢弃时间进而确定人类对该景观利用时间的令人满意的计时测年技术，因此对这类地表人工制品进行年代测定一直存在固有困难。在此，我们提出一种基于光释光（OSL）——OSL岩石表面埋藏测年——的年代测定方法，并将其应用于西藏的一个石片地表散布物。我们为每件人工制品生成OSL埋藏年龄（年龄-深度剖面），概述方法的复杂性，并结合当地尺度的地表动态来考虑人工制品的埋藏年龄。5200至5500年之间最古老的年龄簇可能与该遗址的采石活动有关，因此代表了藏南中部人类存在的最古老计时年龄限制。
