IRSL rock surface dating of dry-stone structures in the Trentino Alps with ALPES

Summer at 2300 m a.s.l. in the Italian Alps is nice but short (Fig. 1). Luckily, it’s not too short for some archaeological excavations among rock glaciers and malghas (overnight huts for shepherds). Here in Val di Sole, Trentino, have archaeologists from University of Trento and Newcastle University for nine years been surveying and excavating dry-stone structures related to mountain pastoralism as part of project ALPES (https://r1.unitn.it/alpes/en/). This lucky PhD candidate had the privilege to join for two short field trips to collect samples for rock surface luminescence dating. Working in the mountains is rough. Frequently, during the ascents, I cursed my everyday priorities for Kölsch and Currywurst over jogging and yoghurt. No matter, for the breathtaking landscape and the fascinating archaeological sites make the hike worth it.

Our aim in project F2 in CRC 806 is to develop and apply luminescence rock surface dating in archaeological contexts. The dry-stone structures in Val di Sole (see Angelucci et al., 2014) provide an interesting challenge for the application of the technique. The structures (livestock enclosures, huts and shelters) are built with gneiss boulders from local outcrops. The chronological interpretation is that the oldest enclosure is Bronze Age and the most recent enclosure complexes have been used until the mid-20th century. We collected gneisses from archaeological layers from the Bronze Age enclosure. We also collected gneisses (Fig. 1) from some of the more recent enclosures and calibration samples (exposed for one year), the latter to calculate exposure times for rock surfaces in the enclosures.

References:
Angelucci D.E., Carrer F. & Cavulli F. 2014. Shaping a periglacial land into a pastoral landscape: a case study from Val di Sole (Trento, Italy). Post-classical archaeologies, 4: 125-148

 

Text: Lucas Ageby
Lucas Ageby is a PhD candidate in the F2-project. He is interested in using luminescence dating of rock surfaces to date archaeological structures and gravel deposits.

 

pic 1 Blog group photo WS Ageby Okt 18 350pxFig.1: One of several enclosure complexes constructed with gneiss cobbles and boulders on the of the northern slope of Val di Sole, Italy. The surrounding alpine landscape has been severely influenced by grazing and wood clearing.
Photo: Lucas Ageby

Project

 

 

 

Uncovering radiation patterns in silex

Uncovering radiation patterns in silex

Siliceous materials used for tool making can differ greatly in appearance. When dating burnt lithics using Thermoluminescence (TL)...

Moved into new laboratories

Moved into new laboratories

After moving from the “Rundbau” into the newly built laboratories in the basement of the “Südbau”, the luminescence laboratory fin...

Investigations on the potential of BeO dosimeters...

Investigations on the potential of BeO dosimeters for in-situ dose rate estimation

Beryllium oxide is predominantly used as personal dosimeter for medical purposes. In the context of a B.Sc. thesis, we investigate...

BeO-dosimeters successfully estimate the heterogen...

BeO-dosimeters successfully estimate the heterogeneity of the dose rate distribution

As shown in previous investigations within the CRC 806, the BeOmax dosimetry system is able to measure in situ dose rates with low...

International Luminescence and Electron Spin Reson...

International Luminescence and Electron Spin Resonance Dating conference (LED 2014)

During the second week of July, the Cologne Luminescence Laboratory (CLL) head sent personnel to Montreal to participate in the 14...

Recording of luminescence signals in the field

Recording of luminescence signals in the field

In October 2014, Stephanie Merkel and Nicole Klasen of the F2 project used a portable luminescence reader (SUERC POSL of the Scott...

Luminescence in Archaeology International Symposiu...

Luminescence in Archaeology International Symposium 2015

At the beginning of September 2015, the Luminescence in Archaeology International Symposium (LAIS 2015) took place in Paris hosted...

Visiting Radiation Physics Experts at the TU Dresd...

Visiting Radiation Physics Experts at the TU Dresden

From early February to late March, Franz Hartung, PhD student in Project F2 of the CRC 806, had a research stay at the TU Dresden....

Measurements in the blocks of SUERC in East Kilbri...

Measurements in the blocks of SUERC in East Kilbride (Scotland)

In June 2016 Nicole Klasen, Anja Zander and Franz Hartung (F2 project) visited David Sanderson at the Scottish Universities Enviro...

18th international conference on Solid State Dosim...

18th international conference on Solid State Dosimetry (SSD18) in Munich

In the beginning of July PhD candidate Franz Hartung (F2 project) visited the 18th international conference on Solid State Dosimet...

GSGS Summer School on Dates and Rates of Change in...

GSGS Summer School on Dates and Rates of Change in the Quaternary

During the penultimate week of August, the GSGS (the Graduate School of Geoscience) organized a Summer School on ‘Dates and Rates...

UK Luminescence and ESR Meeting 2016

UK Luminescence and ESR Meeting 2016

This year, the UK Luminescence and ESR Meeting took place in Liverpool at the beginning of July. As always, the Cologne Luminescen...

ShinyDRAC and the R package ‘TLdating’ are online

ShinyDRAC and the R package ‘TLdating’ are online

After two years of work, a stable version of the new R package ‘TLdating’ in now available on CRAN (https://cran.r-project.org/web...

International workshop in Rock Surface Dating in t...

International workshop in Rock Surface Dating in the Cologne Luminescence Laboratory (CLL)

On the 18-19th of October, the Cologne Luminescence Laboratory hosted an international workshop in Rock Surface Dating. Together w...

IRSL rock surface dating of dry-stone structures i...

IRSL rock surface dating of dry-stone structures in the Trentino Alps with ALPES

Summer at 2300 m a.s.l. in the Italian Alps is nice but short (Fig. 1). Luckily, it’s not too short for some archaeological excava...

Improving dose rate determinations for rock surfac...

Improving dose rate determinations for rock surface luminescence dating: measuring potassium content within gneissic rocks with μ-XRF

Successful luminescence dating of potassium feldspar grains is dependent on reliable estimates of the dosing from ionising radiati...

logo qsga small new

logo koeln schrift 120x120 transparent

     logo uni bonn 153x40      dfg logo transparent
 

RWTH Aachen University

  logo geoverbund small 2 

logo koeln schrift 120x120 transparent

  logo Twitter
Copyright © 2021 CRC 806 - Our Way to Europe