Rehydroxylation dating

Can rehydroxylation be used to date archaeological pottery?

We show that the rehydroxylation (RHX) method can be used to date archaeological pottery, and give the first RHX dates for three disparate items of excavated material. These are in agreement with independently assigned dates. We define precisely the mass components of the ceramic material before, during and after dehydroxylation.

What is Rehydroxylation (RHX)?

This reaction reincorporates hydroxyl (OH) groups into the ceramic material, and is described as rehydroxylation (RHX). The RHX process produces an increase in specimen weight.

What are the steps involved in the RHX dating process?

We describe the main steps of the RHX dating process: sample preparation, drying, conditioning, reheating and measurement of RHX mass gain. We propose a statistical criterion for isolating the RHX component of the measured mass gain data after reheating and demonstrate how to calculate the RHX age.

What is the dating clock of the RHX reaction?

The dating clock is provided by the experimental finding that the RHX reaction follows a precise kinetic law: the weight gain increases as the fourth root of the time which has elapsed since firing.

Is RHX a reliable method of dating archaeological pottery?

Our results suggest that RHX has the potential to be a reliable and technically straightforward method of dating archaeological pottery, thus filling a long-standing gap in dating methods. 1. Introduction

What is the chemical rehydroxylation of ceramics?

Almost all archaeological ceramics undergo slow, progressive rehydroxylation by chemical combination with environmental water. The reaction is accompanied by an expansion, and also by the small but measurable mass gain that provides the basis of the RHX dating method. The rate of the RHX reaction increases with increasing temperature.

What is rehydroxylation dating?

Rehydroxylation (RHX) dating is a technique of dating fired-clay ceramics proposed by Wilson et al. (2009). During development of RHX dating methodology, the long-term mass gain was found to be proportional to the fourth root of time elapsed since firing (Wilson et al., 2009 (Wilson et al., , 2012 ).

What is Rehydroxylation (RHX)?

This reaction reincorporates hydroxyl (OH) groups into the ceramic material, and is described as rehydroxylation (RHX). The RHX process produces an increase in specimen weight.

What is rehydroxylation dating?

Rehydroxylation [RHX] dating is a developing method for dating fired-clay ceramics. It is based on the fact that after a ceramic specimen is removed from the kiln at the time of production, it immediately begins to recombine chemically with moisture from the environment.

What is Rehydroxylation (RHX)?

This reaction reincorporates hydroxyl (OH) groups into the ceramic material, and is described as rehydroxylation (RHX). The RHX process produces an increase in specimen weight.

What are the steps involved in the RHX dating process?

We describe the main steps of the RHX dating process: sample preparation, drying, conditioning, reheating and measurement of RHX mass gain. We propose a statistical criterion for isolating the RHX component of the measured mass gain data after reheating and demonstrate how to calculate the RHX age.

Are our RHX dates in agreement with the independently assigned dates?

Our RHX dates are in good agreement with the independently assigned dates. For the Werra sherds, we have exact assigned dates. For the loomweight, we have an associated age of the context from radiocarbon dating. For the samian-ware sample S1, we have dates of 45–75 AD based on a potter’s name.