Application of in-situ produced terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides to archaeology: A schematic review

Abstract

The wide applicability of in-situ produced Terrestrial Cosmogenic Nuclides (TCNs) to geological problems and experiences in development and testing gained over the past decade is encouraging for its application to archaeological questions, where there is a distinct need for an additional independent dating tool beyond the limits of radiocarbon (∼ 40 ka). Just as TCNs are applicable to a broader time period with considerable precision in archaeology, so also are they applicable to all lithologies. Application of TCNs to archaeological problems is relatively simple: either surface exposure dating (using cosmogenic nuclide production) or burial dating (using decay of radioactive cosmogenic nuclides) can be applied. For a successful application, close collaboration between archaeologists and TCN experts is required. The total exposure from 100 a to 5 Ma of a given surface of archaeological origin can be determined by surface exposure dating. The range of burial dating is from ∼0.1 to 5 Ma. TCNs have been successfully applied to many archaeological problems during the last decade and both surface exposure dating and burial dating show high potential in the solving of archaeological problems.