The estimation of De using the fast and medium components in fired quartz from archaeological site Karakorum, Mongolia

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) is used to estimate the radiation dose derived from environmental radiation since the last heating event-the production of brick, tile, terracotta figures and ceramics in the archaeological site Karakorum, Mongolia. The dose distributions of some quartz samples showed a large scatter in the De obtained using the initial OSL signal. Isolation of components by curve fitting procedure revealed that the characteristics of dose distribution depend on the variability of the ratio fast to medium components within the aliquots considered. Using the infrared stimulation at 220∘C allowed depletion and the individual dose estimation of the medium OSL component, while the post-IR OSL gave less scatter in De for the fast OSL component. Analytical tools such as De(t)-plots, dose recovery tests and the component-resolved sensitivity changes aimed to identify and to diagnose the OSL signal composition, which can be used to estimate a correct mean De value.