Comparison of regenerative-dose single-aliquot and multiple-aliquot (SARA) protocols using heated quartz from archaeological sites

We have tested the suitability of a new regenerative-dose single-aliquot protocol (Murray and Roberts, Radiation Measurements, in press) for dating 16 samples of heated quartz, taken from 11 different archaeological sites. Representative examples of changes in sensitivity with preheat temperature and with regenerative cycle are presented, and it is shown that the sensitivity changes in the optically stimulated luminescence response are linearly correlated with those of the 110 degrees C thermoluminescence (TL) response. We deduce that the new single-aliquot protocol, which corrects for sensitivity change using the 110 degrees C TL response, should be applicable to these fired samples. Estimates of the 16 equivalent doses derived using the new protocol are compared with values obtained using the multiple-aliquot protocol SARA (single-aliquot regeneration and added dose; Mejdahl and Botter-Jensen, 1994) and the agreement is satisfactory. A simplification of the new protocol is also tested. For our samples, we do not find any significant dependence of the equivalent dose on preheating (for 10 s) in the temperature range 160-300 degrees C. We conclude that the new single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol is a fast and reliable method for estimating the equivalent dose in heated quartz. It has considerable potential in many archaeological applications, especially for small samples and/or heterogeneous material. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.