Luminescence dating and firing temperature determination of ancient ceramics fragments from the Tunata-hill site in the Churajon archaeological complex in Arequipa, Peru

Abstract

Ancient pottery fragments from the Tunata-hill site in Churajon archaeological complex, Arequipa, Peru, were dated by means of luminescence techniques such as thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) in order to provide absolute chronology. For TL, additive and regenerative methods were performed. For OSL a regenerative method was carried out for IRSL dating. A rigorous description of the study area and its context has been made. The ages of the samples were found to be between 0.50 ± 0.06 ky and 0.49 ± 0.03 ky for TL methods, and 0.49 ± 0.02 ky for OSL methods. On average, the estimated age by TL and OSL techniques is 490 ± 70 yr (1600 AD and 1460 AD). This means that Churajon ceramics under study would belong to the Late periods which corresponds to the Inca region, and the North sub-region of the Late Churajon phase, and the beginning of European colonization in Peru. X-ray fluorescence technique (XRF) analysis has shown the main presence of Fe (39.5%), Si (30.0%), and Al (10.4%) in fine pottery powder. Furthermore, the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) technique was used to study the firing temperature using the iron signal (Fe3+) as a firing temperature reference. The firing temperature of ceramics was found to be around 550 ± 50 °C.