Dr. James Feathers will apply the techniques of optical luminescent and thermoluminescent dating to sediments from a series of archaeological important sites in the Southern Great Plains. This region in northwestern Texas and eastern New Mexico contains a long cultural sequence which documents most of the prehistory of the New World. Early sites such as Clovis, Lubbock Lake and Midland provide insight into the earliest Paleoindian phase of occupation and these are followed by remains left by Archaic hunters and gatherers who adapted to severe and rapid climatic variation in this semi-arid region. Archaeological advance in the Great Plains region has been slow because charcoal and other carbon based materials are only rarely preserved in sites and thus radiocarbon dating often cannot be employed. Thus many important sites remain undated. Luminescent dating is based on radioactively caused time dependent changes which take place in soil samples. While the technique has proven useful in many parts of the world, it has been used only infrequently in this region and it is uncertain how well it will work. Dr. Feathers will first analyze sediments that have widely accepted independent dating controls in order to demonstrate the precision and accuracy possible by luminescence on a variety of archaeologically important deposits. These include lacustrine, alluvial and aeolian deposits in different settings including draws, playas and dunes. After completion of this phase, dating of previously undated deposits that have a bearing on chronological problems in interpreting the archaeological record will be undertaken. Both thermoluminescence and optically stimulated luminescence will be applied to primarily quartz grains using a number of recently developed techniques.
This project is important for several reasons. It will help to apply developing techniques to a region of archaeological importance. It will also produce data which illumines the prehistory of the US Plains.
