Study of the Physical Characteristics of Carbonate Samples from Archaeological Artifacts for EPR Dating

Abstract

Investigation of the physical characteristics of mineral artifacts was undertaken with purpose of development of dating by the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) method in a new direction, by means of analysis of spectra of the carbonate probes from the surface of archaeological artifacts. The artifacts – samples of layers from the surface of ceramics and stone tools, containing impurities of quartz and alumosilicates, have been tested. For obtaining the physical characteristics and dating the complex of the methods and equipment has been used which allowed us to reveal specialties of mineral content and structure of the surface. There were chosen optimal conditions for registration, distinguishing and identification of the EPR signals from the paramagnetic centers. Applying of radiation of the ILU-10 accelerator with converter and consequent EPR-studying allowed to estimate the age of artifacts.

Keywords

• archaeological artifacts
• the carbonate probes
• ceramics
• stone tools
• electron paramagnetic resonance (epr)
• characteristics of epr signals
• electron accelerator
• dose calibration
• epr-dating