Comparative luminescence and archaeomagnetic dating of ancient kilns and gothic to baroque bricks from SE Poland

Abstract The TL, OSL and archaeomagnetic ages obtained from two ancient kilns and from gothic to baroque bricks in the SE of Poland, were compared to their presumed historical ages and discussed. The archaeomagnetic and OSL data indicates that the ancient kilns were last used ca. 200 AD. This age corresponds well to the lower limit of the postulated age of fragments of Roman type storage vessels found in the filling of kilns. The TL ages obtained from these kilns (4938 ± 238 BC, 6650 ± 396 BC) are significantly older and may be related to the time of deposition of silt in which the kilns’ chambers were dug. The sampled bottom parts of kilns were heated to a relatively low temperature, insufficient to reset the TL signal. Most of archaeomagnetic data isolated from the bricks and linked with their historical ages corresponds well with the reference archaeomagnetic curves for Central Europe. On the other hand, however, most TL ages obtained from the same bricks do not correlate with their historical ages. Unknown and most probably varied brick moisture contents in sampled ground floor walls and cellars does not allow to precisely date these bricks using the TL method.