Electron spin resonance dating of burned flint from Kebara Cave,Israel

Electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements of heated flint from Kebara cave show the presence of two radiation sensitive signals: E' and Al. Both are strongly interfered with by organic signals produced during heating of the flint. The signal subtraction method of Porat and Schwarcz (1991) was used to determine equivalent doses for flint samples from levels VII-XII, for which thermoluminescence (TL) ages on the same samples are known. Ages were determined using dose rates based on analyses of the flint and TLD measurements of external dose rates. The average E' age of 48.5 ± 5.1 ka is much less than the average TL age (62.2 ± 4.3 ka), whereas the average age of 64.6 ± 12 ka given by the Al signal is in good agreement with the TL age, but with much larger dispersion. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.