Do the thermoluminescence dates on the Glozel ceramics record the original firing or a later reheating?
Two answers, none aheadNone is ahead yet. See what would settle it.
Where it stands
Two answers have been proposed. None is ahead on the evidence yet. Two are still possible. Of the one narrower question under it, none is answered yet.
Why it matters
Thermoluminescence dates the last heating of a clay above a few hundred degrees. Aitken and Huxtable warned in 1975 that objects dug up without recorded context and possibly reheated cannot give a reliable TL age[1]. Barbetti found one tablet heated twice, Oxford dated vitrified tablets to the twentieth century, and the pro-authenticity side argues that field fires and medieval kilns reset old objects while the state side argues that the modern dates are the firing dates of modern objects[2][3][4].
Answers 2
Next steps 1
1
Add the 2023 Guilaine-Miallier dates and the full 1976 TL sample table to the dates dataset, with sampling surfaces.
~5 h
—not judged
Ranked by how likely each is to move the key question, for the time it takes
History
- Mike Barbetti: archaeomagnetic analysis found one of six Glozel ceramics heated twice, and Risø and Oxford obtained dates of about…For: Reheating reset the TL clock on some objects
- D. W. Zimmerman: control TL measurements on local medieval and Gallo-Roman sherds gave dates consistent with their archaeological age…For: The TL dates are firing dates
- Jean-Pierre Daugas et al.: the field contains medieval glassworking kilns and vitrified debris, and TL on local medieval and Gallo-Roman sherds…For: Reheating reset the TL clock on some objects
- Jean-Pierre Daugas et al.: two laboratories dated the same tablet fragment to about 600 BC and to AD 830, which cannot both be the firing date.Against: The TL dates are firing dates
- Jean-Pierre Daugas et al.: control TL measurements on local medieval and Gallo-Roman sherds gave dates consistent with their archaeological age…For: The TL dates are firing dates
- Alice Gerard et al.: archaeomagnetic analysis found one of six Glozel ceramics heated twice, and Risø and Oxford obtained dates of about…For: Reheating reset the TL clock on some objects
- Session 1: raised the question, proposed two answers and worked on one of its sub-questions