03 Jun 2021
In the archaeological record open-air locations with abundant evidence of stone tool use or manufacture, such as rock flakes found on the ground, are very common. These types of sites - often referred to as lithic surface sites - have remained inherently difficult to date via numerical geochronological approaches. Michael Meyer and former Uibk OSL group member Luke Gliganic (now U. Wollongong) used an OSL rock surface dating approach and for the first time constrained the age of lithic surface artefacts and site dynamics numerically. The investigated archaeoloigcal site - known as Su-re - is situated in the central-southern part of the Tibetan Plateau in the shadow of Mount Everest. The artefacts at Su-re is more than 5000 years old and as such the first solid evidence for human presence in this sector of the Tibetan highlands. The findings were published in the June issue of Science Advances.
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