Pottery versus sediment: Optically stimulated luminescence dating of the Neolithic Vinča culture, Serbia

Ages for two pottery samples of 6.74 ± 0.37 ka and 7.04 ± 0.47 ka are in line with the existing AMS radiocarbon chronology for the site and are regarded as the best dates available. Sediment samples at Vinča show poor signal strength, and the uncertainty over past water content, in addition to the possibility of mixing and/or partial bleaching of the quartz, means that we do not recommend the use of sediment-derived ages at complex archaeological sites such as Vinča. OSL dating of fired pottery however, presents a powerful tool for generating independent chronologies at archaeological sites as well as providing additional constraints for Bayesian age models.