What is thermoluminescence dating used for

"Everything which has come down to us from heathendom is wrapped in a thick fog; it belongs to a space of time we cannot measure.

Rasmus Nyerup's quote reminds us of the tremendous scientific advances which have taken place in the 20th century.The measure of the stored energy accumulated, which is difficult and requires calibration, allows to evaluate the age of the object being examined. One application is the dating of heated flints, which are abundant in prehistoric sites.It was thus possible to prove that early modern humans (the “proto Cro-Magnon ") had lived on a site in the Middle East nearly 90,000 years ago.The elapsed time is the one between the moment when the pottery was cooked and when it is heated again for the dating. Welcome to the K12 section of the Radiocarbon WEBinfo site.