Brick kiln from SW Jutland: the kiln, historical outline of brick production and farm building in Jutland, magnetic and luminescence dating of the kiln

The paper presents investigations of a brick kiln at Veldbæk east of Esbjerg excavated in connection with construction of a motorway. The kiln, a "farmers kiln", is described and the history of brick kiln construction and farm building in West Jutland is outlined. Magnetic and luminescence dating of the Veldbæk kiln are discussed and dating results presented. The magnetic and luminescence dates are 1790 ± 40 AD and 1795 ± 20 AD, respectively and these are in excellent agreement. A brick from one of the ash pits gave a luminescence date of 1550 ± 40 AD; this indicates that the brick was fired and used elsewhere prior to its use at Veldbæk

Thermoluminescence dating of pottery and burnt stones from Scandinavian archaeological sites

While methods for dating pottery by thermoluminescence (TL) were established more than a decade ago, burnt stones, in particular granites, turned out to be a more difficult material to respond to this method because of the nonuniform distribution of their radioactive constituents as well as the minerals present in their matrix. By using large grains (0.1-5 mm) of feldspars we have succeeded in developing a method that allows TL dating of burnt stones as weil as pottery. The method has been used extensively during the last few years for dating material from archaeological excavations in the Nordic countries. Current progress in the method is reported and a number of dating results are presented and discussed

Magnetic survey over brick kiln remnants at Veldbæk near Esbjerg (Denmark)

Detailed magnetic total field and gradient measurements over remnants of a tile kiln at Veldbæk (55.46°N, 8.50°E) near Esbjerg in SW-Jutland (Denmark) have showed marked magnetic anomalies of up to 200 nT, revealing the rectangular shape of the kiln as well as specifically depicting the heating channels. The bulk susceptibility also showed markedly increased values of the kiln-area as compared to the surrounding unheated smelt-water sands

Luminescence dates of the Iron Age cemetery at Møllegårdsmarken, Fyn, Denmark

The Iron Age cemetery at Møllegårdsmarken on the island of Funen is described briefly and the principle of luminescence dating is outlined. Dates for a number of cremation urns and for a potsherd found on a road running close to the site are presented. The dating was carried out with the OSL method SARA applied to quartz

Using OSL to assess hypotheses related to the impacts of land use change with the early nineteenth century arrival of Europeans in south-eastern Australia: an exploratory case study from Grabben Gullen Creek, New South Wales

A common explanation for intense soil erosion and gullying in SE Australia is the introduction by Europeans of new land use practices following their arrival in Australia in the late 18th century. Eucalyptus woodlands were cleared to introduce farming, and valley bottoms, characterized by chains of ponds with organic-rich swampy meadow (SM) soils, were subsequently buried by thick deposits of ‘post-settlement alluvium’ (PSA) generated by erosion in the catchment. In this study, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) is used to evaluate the source(s) of the PSA in Grabben Gullen Creek (GGC), Australia. We use a portable OSL reader to measure total photon counts on bulk polymineral and polygrain-size samples from nine profiles along the Creek. We use these luminescence signals as geotracers of sediment source(s) and transport pathways. We obtained higher luminescence signals in the PSA than in the SM sediments, suggesting different sources and fluvial transport conditions for these two widespread sedimentary units. Portable OSL reader data from soils in the GGC catchment that are potential sources for the SM sediments and PSA show that the high luminescence signals recorded in the PSA are similar to those from subsoil samples in granite soils, suggesting that the PSA was derived by gullying of granite subsoils. In the SM sediments, luminescence signals decrease upwards from the base of the profile, as expected in well-reset fluvial deposits, but with one or more changes in gradient in the profile of photon counts with depth, most likely indicating changes in sediment deposition rates. To calculate deposition rates in the SM sediments, several samples were dated using OSL. The OSL ages produced low scatter in the equivalent doses, confirming the well-reset nature of the grains composing the SM and indicating a process of sediment transport in dilute flows, as is interpreted from the portable OSL signals. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved