Luminescence Dating on the Southern High Plains

James Feathers博士将应用光学发光和热释光测年技术对南部大平原一系列考古重要遗址的沉积物进行测年。这一地区位于得克萨斯州西北部和新墨西哥州东部，包含了一个很长的文化序列，记录了新大陆的大部分史前史。早期的遗址，如克洛维斯，拉伯克湖和米德兰提供了洞察最早的古印第安人阶段的占领，这些都是由狩猎者和采集者留下的遗骸，他们适应了这个半干旱地区严重而快速的气候变化。大平原地区的考古进展缓慢，因为木炭和其他碳基材料很少保存在遗址中，因此放射性碳测年法通常无法使用。因此，许多重要的遗址仍然没有注明日期。发光测年法是根据土壤样品中发生的放射性引起的随时间变化而定的。虽然该技术已在世界许多地方证明是有用的，但在该区域只是很少使用，而且不确定其效果如何。Feathers博士将首先分析已被广泛接受的独立测年控制的沉积物，以证明发光在各种考古学上重要的沉积物上的精确度和准确度。这些包括湖泊，冲积和风成沉积物在不同的设置，包括提请，干盐湖和沙丘。这一阶段完成后，将对以前没有日期的沉积物进行测年，这些沉积物对解释考古记录的年代问题有影响。热释光和光激发发光都将应用于主要是石英颗粒，使用一些最近开发的技术。这将有助于将发展中的技术应用于一个具有考古重要性的地区。它还将产生数据，阐明美国平原的史前史。

Dr. James Feathers will apply the techniques of optical luminescent and thermoluminescent dating to sediments from a series of archaeological important sites in the Southern Great Plains. This region in northwestern Texas and eastern New Mexico contains a long cultural sequence which documents most of the prehistory of the New World. Early sites such as Clovis, Lubbock Lake and Midland provide insight into the earliest Paleoindian phase of occupation and these are followed by remains left by Archaic hunters and gatherers who adapted to severe and rapid climatic variation in this semi-arid region. Archaeological advance in the Great Plains region has been slow because charcoal and other carbon based materials are only rarely preserved in sites and thus radiocarbon dating often cannot be employed. Thus many important sites remain undated. Luminescent dating is based on radioactively caused time dependent changes which take place in soil samples. While the technique has proven useful in many parts of the world, it has been used only infrequently in this region and it is uncertain how well it will work. Dr. Feathers will first analyze sediments that have widely accepted independent dating controls in order to demonstrate the precision and accuracy possible by luminescence on a variety of archaeologically important deposits. These include lacustrine, alluvial and aeolian deposits in different settings including draws, playas and dunes. After completion of this phase, dating of previously undated deposits that have a bearing on chronological problems in interpreting the archaeological record will be undertaken. Both thermoluminescence and optically stimulated luminescence will be applied to primarily quartz grains using a number of recently developed techniques.This project is important for several reasons. It will help to apply developing techniques to a region of archaeological importance. It will also produce data which illumines the prehistory of the US Plains.