Luminescence Dating On Ceramic Of Nuomuhong Talitaliha Site And Tianjun Karst Cave Site

As a daily utensil and artefact used since the Last Glacial Maximum,pottery is direct evidence of human activities.The invention and use of ceramic have fundamentally changed human survival practices and social behaviors,and is an important feature of social development,opening up a new era of developing natural resources.The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is one of the harshest environments in the world.The harsh natural environment such as high cold,low oxygen and drought is the main reason for limiting the settlement of ancient humans in this area.The study of human activities on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau can provide a basis for understanding human survival strategies for adapting to the natural environment.The northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is one of the main areas of human activities since the Last Glacial Maximum.It is a focus area for studying prehistoric human activities on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.The northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is an important channel for the migration of ancient humans to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in northern China.It has a large number of archaeological remains,such as ceramics,charcoal,plant seeds,bones,etc.,and the cultural sequence is relatively complete.Potter is a direct evidence of human activity as a representative of culture.The ages of most ceramics were measured according to conventional methods,such as observing the cultural characteristics of its shape,texture,ornamentation,and production process,or combined with the radiocarbon age from the same layer to judge the age of ceramic,but lack of direct dating on the ceramic itself.In addition,the sandstorm activity in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau,especially in the Gobi region,is intense.The ceramics are exposed to the surface,and the lack of cultural layers makes the ceramic lack corresponding chronological materials.And the ¹⁴C age may be affected by the“old wood”effect,which interferes with the judgment of the age of ceramic in the site.Using the luminescence dating method to determine the age of the ceramic can be more direct and objective to obtain the age of the ceramic,and can provide direct evidence for human activities.For the first time,the luminescence dating on ceramics in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is studied.In this paper,considering the differences of environmental in different areas of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau,the Talitaliha site in Nuomuhong,Qaidam Basin and the Tianjun karst cave in the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau are selected as the research area.Eight ceramics were selected to luminescence dating,and the characteristics of the OSL signals from quartz and pIR₅₀IR₂₉₀ signals from K-feldspar in the ceramics were studied.The OSL ages of 11 sediments and 9 radiocarbon ages were compared with the age of ceramics.The age of human activities was obtained from the Talitaliha site and the Tianjun karst cave,and the reliability of the application of the luminescence dating on ceramics was comprehensively analyzed.The results show that:1)Due to the high firing temperature during the production of ceramic,the luminescence signals from quartz and K-feldspar of the raw materials accumulated during the geological period were completely reset,the OSL signal from quartz of the ceramics are very strong,which is a very suitable dating material;the age measured by quartz SAR protocol and the K-feldspar pIRIR protocol have a good consistency.The quartz ages in the ceramic have a good agreement with the K-feldspar ages,indicating that the luminescence dating on ceramic is reliable.2)The ages of ceramics in Talitaliha site is consistent with the stratum OSL ages and the ¹⁴C ages,which is 3400-2800 Cal yr BP.Combined with previous studies,it is concluded that the prehistoric humans of Nomuhong have settled in the Qaidam Basin at 3400-2450 Cal yr BP.It is the sole prehistoric human group living in the Qaidam Basin in the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at an altitude of over 2700 m.3)The stratum of the Tianjun karst cave site is seriously disturbed,and the stratum and the ¹⁴C ages are chaotic.Therefore,the age of human activity of the site was obtained by using the luminescence on the ceramics directly,which is 1.76±0.12 ka and 1.25±0.06 ka.