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Luminescence Dating of the Iron Age Deposits from Tell Damiyah in the Jordan Valley

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2019

Sahar al Khasawneh*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yarmouk University, 21163 Irbid, Jordan
Andrew Murray
Affiliation:
Nordic Laboratory for Luminescence Dating, Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, Denmark
Zeidan Kafafi
Affiliation:
Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yarmouk University, 21163 Irbid, Jordan
Lucas Petit
Affiliation:
National Museum of Antiquities, Department Ancient Near East, Leiden, The Netherlands
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected], [email protected].

Abstract

In this study, we investigate quartz-based luminescence optical dating of Iron Age deposits at the archaeological site of Tell Damiyah in the Jordan valley. Ten samples, taken from different occupation layers from two different excavation areas, proved to have good luminescence characteristics (fast-component dominated, dose recovery ratio 1.032 ± 0.010, n=24). The optical ages are completely consistent with both available 14C ages and ages based on stylistic elements; it appears that this material was fully reset at deposition, although it is recognised that the agreement with age control is somewhat dependent on the assumed field water content of the samples. Further comparison with different OSL signals from feldspar, or investigations based on dose distributions from individual grains would be desirable to independently confirm the resetting of this material. It is concluded that the sediments of Tell Damiyah are very suitable for luminescence dating. Despite the relatively large associated age uncertainties of between 5 and 10%, OSL at tell sites has the potential to provide ages for material very difficult to date by conventional methods, and to identify reworked mixtures of older artifacts in a younger depositional setting.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2019 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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