Expert: Ralph Salier - 9/27/2004

Question
Would you happen to know of any websites, or books, that will tell me where TL Dating has been used to discovery significantly important artifcats?

ThankS!

Answer
Karl, This type of dating (Thermoluminesence) is used to date ceramics.  Some of the more significant data from TL dating has been to push back the first use of ceramics in NA and in other parts of the old world.  

TL has been critical in the dating of Anastazi sites in the southwest and in confirming other more established dating methods.  

The ceramics of Mesopotamia and the Indus valley have been pushed back some 1 to 2 thousand years with the help of TL.


TL dating is not always possible due to the constituants of the original clays used in the making of  the ceramic item.  So unlike C14 or the other radiometrics it is not as reliable.