M.J. Aitken - Science-Based Dating in Archaeology

Longman Archaeology Series

Science-based dating in archaeology

Longman Archaeology Series

Advisory editor:

Barry Cunliffe,

Professor of European Archaeology, University of Oxford

Each volume in this important new series will tackle a major theme currently in need of synthesis or reassessment. The books are designed for professional archaeologists, students and the serious amateur enthusiast, and cover a range of levels as well as topics. A common feature of the series is the application to archaeology of ideas and techniques derived from anthropology, ethnology and other related disciplines.

M. J. Aitken Science-based dating in archaeology

Richard Bradley The social foundations of prehistoric Britain: themes and variations in the archaeology of power

D. R. Brothwell Early British man: a bioarchaeology from the Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages

R. W. Chapman Death, culture and society in prehistoric Europe: theory and applications

San McGrail Ancient boats in N.W. Europe: the archaeology of water transport to AD 1500

A. J. Parker Ships and shipping in the Mediterranean world: an archaeological survey to AD 1500

D. P. S. Peacock Pottery in the Roman world: an ethnoarchaeological approach

D. P. S. Peacock & D. F. Williams Amphorae and the Roman economy: an introductory guide

T. W. Potter Urbanisation in the classical world

R. F. Tylecote The early history of metallurgy in Europe

Already published

M. J. Aitken

Science-based dating in archaeology

First published 1990 by Addison Wesley Longman Limited

Third impression 1997

Published 2013 by Routledge

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Copyright 1990, Taylor & Francis.

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Notices

Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary.

Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.

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ISBN 13: 978-0-582-49309-4 (pbk)

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Aitken, M. J. (Martin Jim)

Science-based dating in archaeology. (Longman archaeology series)

1. Archaeology. Scientific techniques

I. Title

930.1028

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Aitken, M. J. (Martin Jim)

Science-based dating in archaeology/M. J. Aitken.

(Longman archaeology series)

Includes bibliographies and index.

ISBN 0582493099 ppr

ISBN 0582054982

1. Archaeological dating. I. Title. II. Series.

CC78.A39 1990

930.10285dc29

892380
CIP

Contents

.

In writing this book my primary aim has been to provide an entre to dating methods provided by the physical sciences, having in mind archaeologists, general scientific readers and specialists interested in techniques not their own. I have employed a two-tier system. On the one hand there is the main text in which each chapter starts off at an elementary level and continues as far as possible in plain English with a minimum of equations; on the other hand there are end-notes for each chapter which go more deeply into various points and which in general presume on a basic mathematical background. There has not been room to attempt a definitive assessment of the techniques or to give a proper account of the contribution to archaeology so far made.

This latter, already substantial, will continue to increase in volume and also in scope as technological advances make new things possible. Archaeology grows in complexity too, and the time when one person could be expert both in archaeology and in laboratory science is long past. Hence the growing importance of the interface between the two disciplines. Not only does this serve the utilitarian purpose of maximizing the benefit derived from laboratory effort; also, there can be much stimulation of ideas, in both directions, through informed dialogue. I hope this book will improve the efficacy of the interface in both its aspects.

My involvement in science-based dating is through my work, mainly in luminescence and magnetic techniques, at the Oxford University Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art. I willingly record my debt to its director, Professor E. T. Hall, as well as to past and present members of the laboratory as a whole and particularly to my research students. For my own enthusiasm in this field I owe much to the privilege of early guidance from Professor C. F. C. Hawkes who, together with the late Viscount Cherwell, provided the initiative for the formation of the laboratory in 1955.

Specifically for this book I have been fortunate in having advice and suggestions from: Adrian Allsop, Jeffrey Bada, Mike Baillie, David Bowen, Sheridan Bowman, Rex Galbraith, Richard Gillespie, John Gowlett, Rainer Grn, Ernie Hailwood, Robert Hedges, Rupert Housley, Miro Ivanovich, Ian Law, Foss Leach, Stephen Moorbath, Gordon Pearson, Mervyn Popham, Helen Rendell, Stephen Robinson, Nick Shackleton, Pete Smart, Barnaby Smith, Stephen Stokes, Chris Stringer, Gerald Sykes, Henrik Tauber and John Westgate. I am grateful to all of them as well as to those who assisted in its preparation: Judith Takacs illustrations; Katherine Manville, along with Jane Simcox, Mona Winter, June Gibbard and Adrian Allsop word processing; Natalie Garton and Gill Spencer library search. Without their help the book never would have seen the light of day.

Martin Aitken

The Ofslang, Islip

November 1988