The Big Circles in Jordan: First absolute ages using rock luminescence surface dating

Sahar al Khasawneh; Fawzi Abudanah; Warren Thompson; Andrew Murray

doi:10.1002/gea.21982

The Big Circles in Jordan: First absolute ages using rock luminescence surface dating

Sahar al Khasawneh^*
, Fawzi Abudanah
, Warren Thompson
, Andrew Murray

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Geoscience - Nordic Laboratory for Luminescence Dating

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

In this study, we provide the first absolute ages for a Big Circle megalithic structure in Jordan, using rock surface luminescence dating of the buried surface of rocks collected from circle J4 in southern Jordan. Five rocks were used for this study. All rocks showed evidence of previous daylight exposure before being used in the construction of the circle. The exposure was sufficient to bleach the latent luminescence signal to a negligible level compared to the subsequent burial dose. Three rocks gave indistinguishable ages, and were last exposed to daylight in 1500 ± 100 BCE; this is very likely to be the date of circle construction. Two others gave younger ages, indicating later disturbance or reworking. These new results provide very strong evidence for construction during the Late Bronze Age, and refute the earlier hypothesis of construction during Umayyad period (661–750 CE) as a hunting trap.

Original language	English
Journal	Geoarchaeology
Volume	39
Issue	2
Pages (from-to)	95-105
Number of pages	11
ISSN	0883-6353
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.21982
Publication status	Published - Mar 2024

Keywords

Big Circles
Jordan
megalithic structure
OSL
rock surface dating

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title = "The Big Circles in Jordan: First absolute ages using rock luminescence surface dating",

abstract = "In this study, we provide the first absolute ages for a Big Circle megalithic structure in Jordan, using rock surface luminescence dating of the buried surface of rocks collected from circle J4 in southern Jordan. Five rocks were used for this study. All rocks showed evidence of previous daylight exposure before being used in the construction of the circle. The exposure was sufficient to bleach the latent luminescence signal to a negligible level compared to the subsequent burial dose. Three rocks gave indistinguishable ages, and were last exposed to daylight in 1500 ± 100 BCE; this is very likely to be the date of circle construction. Two others gave younger ages, indicating later disturbance or reworking. These new results provide very strong evidence for construction during the Late Bronze Age, and refute the earlier hypothesis of construction during Umayyad period (661–750 CE) as a hunting trap.",

keywords = "Big Circles, Jordan, megalithic structure, OSL, rock surface dating",

author = "\{al Khasawneh\}, Sahar and Fawzi Abudanah and Warren Thompson and Andrew Murray",

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year = "2024",

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doi = "10.1002/gea.21982",

language = "English",

volume = "39",

pages = "95--105",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - The Big Circles in Jordan

T2 - First absolute ages using rock luminescence surface dating

AU - al Khasawneh, Sahar

AU - Abudanah, Fawzi

AU - Thompson, Warren

AU - Murray, Andrew

PY - 2024/3

Y1 - 2024/3

N2 - In this study, we provide the first absolute ages for a Big Circle megalithic structure in Jordan, using rock surface luminescence dating of the buried surface of rocks collected from circle J4 in southern Jordan. Five rocks were used for this study. All rocks showed evidence of previous daylight exposure before being used in the construction of the circle. The exposure was sufficient to bleach the latent luminescence signal to a negligible level compared to the subsequent burial dose. Three rocks gave indistinguishable ages, and were last exposed to daylight in 1500 ± 100 BCE; this is very likely to be the date of circle construction. Two others gave younger ages, indicating later disturbance or reworking. These new results provide very strong evidence for construction during the Late Bronze Age, and refute the earlier hypothesis of construction during Umayyad period (661–750 CE) as a hunting trap.

AB - In this study, we provide the first absolute ages for a Big Circle megalithic structure in Jordan, using rock surface luminescence dating of the buried surface of rocks collected from circle J4 in southern Jordan. Five rocks were used for this study. All rocks showed evidence of previous daylight exposure before being used in the construction of the circle. The exposure was sufficient to bleach the latent luminescence signal to a negligible level compared to the subsequent burial dose. Three rocks gave indistinguishable ages, and were last exposed to daylight in 1500 ± 100 BCE; this is very likely to be the date of circle construction. Two others gave younger ages, indicating later disturbance or reworking. These new results provide very strong evidence for construction during the Late Bronze Age, and refute the earlier hypothesis of construction during Umayyad period (661–750 CE) as a hunting trap.

KW - Big Circles

KW - Jordan

KW - megalithic structure

KW - OSL

KW - rock surface dating

U2 - 10.1002/gea.21982

DO - 10.1002/gea.21982

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85176936869

SN - 0883-6353

VL - 39

SP - 95

EP - 105

JO - Geoarchaeology

JF - Geoarchaeology

IS - 2

ER -

The Big Circles in Jordan: First absolute ages using rock luminescence surface dating

Abstract

Keywords

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