Optically stimulated luminescence profiling and dating of earthworks: the creation and development of prehistoric field boundaries at Bosigran, Cornwall

Soetkin Vervust; Tim Kinnaird; Peter Herring; Sam Turner

doi:10.15184/aqy.2019.138

Optically stimulated luminescence profiling and dating of earthworks: the creation and development of prehistoric field boundaries at Bosigran, Cornwall

Soetkin Vervust^*, Tim Kinnaird, Peter Herring, Sam Turner

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Earth & Environmental Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Accurately dating the creation and development of earthwork features is a long-standing problem for archaeologists. This article presents results from Bosigran (Cornwall, UK), where boundary banks believed to be prehistoric in origin are assessed using optically stimulated luminescence profiling and dating (OSL-PD). The results provide secure construction dates for different boundaries in the Bronze and Iron Ages, as well as chronologies for their early medieval and later development. The research demonstrates not only the prehistoric origins of these distinctive Cornish field systems, but also a practical and cost-effective methodology suitable for dating earthworks around the world.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	420-436
Number of pages	17
Journal	Antiquity
Volume	94
Issue number	374
Early online date	30 Mar 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.138
Publication status	Published - Apr 2020

Keywords

Britain
Bronze Age
Cornwall
field systems
Iron Age
landscape archaeology
OSL-PD

Access to Document

10.15184/aqy.2019.138Licence: CC BY-NC-SA

Vervust_2020_Antiquity_Luminescenceprofiling_CC
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd and Cambridge University Press 2020. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the same Creative Commons licence is included and the original work is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use.
Final published version, 12.9 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-SA

Cite this

@article{653904a697534469a88d1090972ceaee,

title = "Optically stimulated luminescence profiling and dating of earthworks: the creation and development of prehistoric field boundaries at Bosigran, Cornwall",

abstract = "Accurately dating the creation and development of earthwork features is a long-standing problem for archaeologists. This article presents results from Bosigran (Cornwall, UK), where boundary banks believed to be prehistoric in origin are assessed using optically stimulated luminescence profiling and dating (OSL-PD). The results provide secure construction dates for different boundaries in the Bronze and Iron Ages, as well as chronologies for their early medieval and later development. The research demonstrates not only the prehistoric origins of these distinctive Cornish field systems, but also a practical and cost-effective methodology suitable for dating earthworks around the world.",

keywords = "Britain, Bronze Age, Cornwall, field systems, Iron Age, landscape archaeology, OSL-PD",

author = "Soetkin Vervust and Tim Kinnaird and Peter Herring and Sam Turner",

note = "This work has received funding from the FWO (Research Foundation—Flanders) and the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sk{\l}odowska-Curie grant agreement (665501).",

year = "2020",

month = apr,

doi = "10.15184/aqy.2019.138",

language = "English",

volume = "94",

pages = "420--436",

journal = "Antiquity",

issn = "0003-598X",

publisher = "Antiquity Ltd",

number = "374",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Optically stimulated luminescence profiling and dating of earthworks

T2 - the creation and development of prehistoric field boundaries at Bosigran, Cornwall

AU - Vervust, Soetkin

AU - Kinnaird, Tim

AU - Herring, Peter

AU - Turner, Sam

N1 - This work has received funding from the FWO (Research Foundation—Flanders) and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement (665501).

PY - 2020/4

Y1 - 2020/4

N2 - Accurately dating the creation and development of earthwork features is a long-standing problem for archaeologists. This article presents results from Bosigran (Cornwall, UK), where boundary banks believed to be prehistoric in origin are assessed using optically stimulated luminescence profiling and dating (OSL-PD). The results provide secure construction dates for different boundaries in the Bronze and Iron Ages, as well as chronologies for their early medieval and later development. The research demonstrates not only the prehistoric origins of these distinctive Cornish field systems, but also a practical and cost-effective methodology suitable for dating earthworks around the world.

AB - Accurately dating the creation and development of earthwork features is a long-standing problem for archaeologists. This article presents results from Bosigran (Cornwall, UK), where boundary banks believed to be prehistoric in origin are assessed using optically stimulated luminescence profiling and dating (OSL-PD). The results provide secure construction dates for different boundaries in the Bronze and Iron Ages, as well as chronologies for their early medieval and later development. The research demonstrates not only the prehistoric origins of these distinctive Cornish field systems, but also a practical and cost-effective methodology suitable for dating earthworks around the world.

KW - Britain

KW - Bronze Age

KW - Cornwall

KW - field systems

KW - Iron Age

KW - landscape archaeology

KW - OSL-PD

U2 - 10.15184/aqy.2019.138

DO - 10.15184/aqy.2019.138

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85083363599

SN - 0003-598X

VL - 94

SP - 420

EP - 436

JO - Antiquity

JF - Antiquity

IS - 374

ER -

Optically stimulated luminescence profiling and dating of earthworks: the creation and development of prehistoric field boundaries at Bosigran, Cornwall

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this