NOVEL APPROACHES IN SURFACE LUMINESCENCE DATING OF ROCK ART: A BRIEF REVIEW
Keywords:
bleaching, solar, irradiation, chronology, monument, lithics, fitting, modelling, mechanism, exponential, log-normAbstract
The direct dating investigation of rock art remains a deficit issue yet the surface luminescence dating of rock
surfaces initiated in the 90‘s has made some considerable progress. The luminescence dating of lithic surfac
es inheres a dual mechanism regarding bleaching / growth of luminescent signal by depth and exposure
time. The present overview reconfirms the suggestion that rock surfaces contain a record of exposure and
burial history and that these events can be quantified. The physical mechanisms in trapping / de-trapping of
electron traps, under different conditions of sun exposure and burial, the mathematical modeling of experi
mental and simulated data (modified double exponential and cumulative log-norm) and some World exam
ples are briefly reviewed.
