Thermoluminescence Dating of Burnt Cherts from the Alice Boer Site (Brazil)

摘要

More than 40 culturally burnt cherts from the Alice Boer site near Rio Claro, Sao Paulo State, have been studied by thermoluminescence (TL). Nine of these were found to be sufficiently heated by early man to reset the TL clock to zero and thereby be suitable for TL dating. These cherts define, for the upper half of the uppermost cultural layer (layer III), a time scale for the presence of man from 2,220 to 11,000 years. This time range is in essential agreement with the geological-paleoclimatological age estimate for the end of deposition of this layer, as well as with radiocarbon dates. In particular, it lends support to a radiocarbon age of 14,000 BP for a deeper level. The overall geochronologic results are not in contradiction with earlier statements that the deepest cultural layer (layer V) at Alice Boer might have been deposited at least 20,000 years ago. (Atomindex citation 16:026140)