A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF URANIUM AND OF TL-PRODUCING MINERALS IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL MATERIALS

A technique is described by which the spatial distribution of uranium as well as of thermoluminescent minerals can be examined in the same archaeological sample. The uranium distribution is replicated on an aluminized plastic film with the help of a ‘spark counter’following reactor-irradiation of the sample, while the TL pattern is photographed directly from a γ-irradiated sample. Implications for dating from such a comparative examination are discussed for certain pottery and flint samples.     

THE PRE-DOSE TECHNIQUE: A NEW THERMO-LUMINESCENT DATING METHOD

A thermoluminescent (TL) glow-curve peak occurs around 110°C for the mineral quartz. Its sensitivity may be changed by application of a radiation dose (termed the pre-dose) followed by a heating of the quartz to 500°C: heating alone causes no sensitivity change. The enhancement observed (measured relative to the sensitivity of the peak prior to heating) is a measure of the magnitude of the pre-dose. For quartz extracted from pottery the sensitivity enhancement induced by laboratory heating records a natural pre-dose, i.e. the accumulated dose experienced during archaeological burial. The latter quantity is used in TL age-determination and a test programme is reported on the application of the pre-dose dating method to sites covering the Roman era in Britain forward to modern times.     

Book reviews

Australian. J. S. Western and Colin A. Hughes, The Mass Media in Australia. Use and Evaluation, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 1971, pp. 178, $6.50.

R. G. Casey, Australian Foreign Minister: Diaries 1951–60, ed. T. B. Millar, Collins, Sydney, 1972, pp. 352, $7.95.

Ian Bellany, Australia in the Nuclear Age: National Defence and National Development, Sydney University Press, 1972, pp. 144, $6.00.

J. A. La Nauze, The Making of the Australian Constitution, Melbourne University Press 1972, pp. 369 + xi, $15.00.

Scott Bennett, The Making of the Commonwealth, Cassell Australia, Melbourne, 1971, pp. xi + 244, no price.

Commonwealth Parliamentary Library, Parliamentary Handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia, 17th ed., 1971, Australian Government Publishing Service Canberra 1972, pp xiii + 954, $11.50.

Naomi Turner, Sinews of Sectarian Warfare? State Aid in New South Wales 1836–1862, Canberra, Australian National University Press, 1972, pp. 272, $8.50.

Niall Brennan, John Wren Gambler, Hill of Content, Melbourne, 1971, pp. xii + 259, $6.95.

Irwin Young, Theodore His Life and Times, Alpha, Sydney, 1971, pp. 189, $4.50.

Don Whitington, Twelfth Man?, Jacaranda Press, Brisbane, 1972, pp. 180, $4.95.

J. E. Menadue, A Centenary History of the Australian Natives’ Association, 1871–1971, Horticultural Press, Melbourne, n.d., 1972, pp. x + 425, no price.

I. McKay, R. Boyd, H. Stretton and J. Mant, Living and Partly Living, Thomas Nelson, Melbourne, 1972, pp. 195, $10.95.

Robin Boyd, The Great Great Australian Dream, Pergamon Press, Sydney, 1972, pp. 395 + xviii, $5.95.

Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers of Australian Government Publications, 2nd ed., Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1972, pp. 417 + xiv, $9.95.

Other. Marian W. Ward (ed.), Change and Development in Rural Melanesia: Papers Delivered at the Fifth Waigani Seminar, The University of Papua and New Guinea, Port Moresby, and the Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University, A.N.U. Press, Canberra, 1972, pp. ix + 556, $6.00.

L. Cleveland and A. D. Robinson (eds.), Readings in New Zealand Government, Reed, Wellington, 1972, pp. 314, $NZ5.30.

Richard Crossman, Inside View, Jonathan Cape, London, 1972, pp. 117, $6.50.

Humphrey Berkeley, Crossing the Floor, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1972, pp. 170, $9.30.

Eleanor Kapp, Eleanor Marx, Volume I Family Life 1855–1883, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1972, pp. 319, £4.50 (English price).

U. Bronfenbrenner, Two Worlds of Childhood: U.S. and U.S.S.R., George Allen and Unwin, London, 1971, pp. xii + 190 (plus 4 blank pages), $10.60.

R. J. Mokken, A Theory and Procedure of Scale Analysis, with Applications in Political Research, Mouton, The Hague, 1971, pp xiii + 353, 45 guilders.