Abstract

As a daily utensil and artefact, the presence of ceramic at an archaeological site is direct evidence of human activity. While ceramics have been found at numerous sites on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), most have been aged using conventional methods such as typology or radio-carbon dating of associated charcoal and bone. In this study, five sand-tempered grey ceramics from Talitaliha in the Qaidam Basin were dated using quartz and K-feldspar OSL. The reliability of the ceramic OSL ages was determined using six independent radiocarbon samples, three charcoal and three bone, from the same cultural layer. Six additional OSL ages were determined on sandy loess sediments at the Talitaliha site to provide upper and lower limits for the ceramic ages. The ceramic luminescence dating results are in good agreement with the 14C ages and are within the constraints of the stratigraphic OSL ages, suggesting that OSL dating of ceramics has great potential for archaeological research on the QTP. The determined age range for the Talitaliha site was between 3400–2800 cal BP; this fits well with Nuomuhong culture dates from other locations in the Qaidam Basin that range between 3400–2450 cal BP.

Details

Title
Luminescence Dating of Nuomuhong Culture Ceramics at Talitaliha Site on the Northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
Author
Sun, Manping 1 ; Sun, Yongjuan 1 ; Chongyi, E 2 ; Hou, Guangliang 2 ; Zhang, Jing 1 ; Shi, Yunkun 1 

 Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Physical Geography and Environmental Processes, School of Geographical Science, Qinghai Normal University, Xining, P.R. China; MOE Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Land Surface Processes and Ecological Conservation, Qinghai Normal University, Xining, P.R. China 
 Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Physical Geography and Environmental Processes, School of Geographical Science, Qinghai Normal University, Xining, P.R. China; MOE Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Land Surface Processes and Ecological Conservation, Qinghai Normal University, Xining, P.R. China; Academy of Plateau Science and Sustainability, People’s Government of Qinghai Province & Beijing Normal University, Xining, P.R. China 
Pages
391-401
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
De Gruyter Poland
ISSN
17338387
e-ISSN
18971695
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2618560785
Copyright
© 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.