M. Járó - L. Költő szerk.: Archaeometrical research in Hungary (Budapest, 1988)

Dating - BENKŐ Lázár: Thermoluminescence dating of Hungarian archaeological sites (potteries, hearths, calcite)

firing glow-out equivalent dose * oi HTL ciose /lab. irrad/ Fig. 1 Principles of TL dating In the quartz inclusion technique, radioactivity-free quartz grains of about 0.1 mm are usually separated from the pottery. For this grain size fraction, the contribution of alpha radiation is negligible. Alpha particles from the grain/matrix interface have an average range of about 0.02 mm and the outer layer which is affected can be removed by treating the grains with hydrofluoric acid. On the other hand, the alpha particles are much less effective in inducing TL than the same dose of beta and gamma radiation. Hence, for the extracted grain size fraction, the accumulated dose and the appropriate annual dose originate only from beta particles from the pottery matrix itself, from the gamma radiation of the burial soil and a small contribution from cosmic rays (Fig. 2). 0.1 mm cosmic rays gamma from soil etched skin /alpha/ sherd /beta/ dose-xate fine-gra ïnT transition layer /light, soil beta/ H cosmic + soil gamma dose-rate quartz inclusion \ ^ D

r Fig. 2 Contributions to the dose-rate