Thermoluminescence age determinations for the Mungo III human burial, Lake Mungo, southeastern Australia

Thermoluminescence dating work was carried out on quartz from unburnt sediment associated with the Mungo III human burial site in southeastern Australia using selective bleach and total bleach methods. A comparison of the techniques showed that in some cases incomplete removal of the thermoluminescence (TL) signal used for dating sediments had occurred and in these cases selective bleach was the more reliable of the two methods. The selective bleach results indicate the age of the burial to be older than 24.6+/-2.4 ka and younger than 43.3+/-3.8 ka, while the total bleach results give ages for the burial between 34.0+/-3.9 ka and 43.1+/-6.7 ka. The ages place the Mungo III human remains with the same population or older than the previously discovered human remains of Mungo I. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd