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New optical and radiocarbon dates from Ngarrabullgan Cave, a Pleistocene archaeological site in Australia: implications for the comparability of time clocks and for the human colonization of Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Bruno David ,
Richard Roberts ,
Claudio Tuniz ,
Rhys Jones  and
John Head
Bruno David
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Sociology, The University of Queensland, Queensland 4072, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]
Richard Roberts
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]
Claudio Tuniz
Affiliation:
Physics Division, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, PMB 1, Menai, NSW 2234, Australia. E-mail: [email protected]
Rhys Jones
Affiliation:
Division of Archaeology and Natural History, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
John Head
Affiliation:
Division of Archaeology and Natural History, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia.
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Extract

The human settlement of Australia falls into that period where dating is hard because it is near or beyond the reliable limit of radiocarbon study; instead a range of luminescence methods are being turned to (such as thermoluminescence at Jinmium: December 1996 ANTIQUITY). Ngarrabullgan Cave, a rock-shelter in Queensland, now offers a good suite of radiocarbon determinations which match well a pair of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates — encouraging sign that OSL determinations can be relied on.

Type
Notes
Information
Antiquity , Volume 71 , Issue 271 , March 1997 , pp. 183 - 188
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1997

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