The potential of ESR dating of tooth enamel

A problem often occuring in the attempt to date archaeological sites is a lack of material suited for the various methods, especially, when the site is assumed to be beyond the radiocarbon dating range.

Recent progress in ESR dating of tooth enamel opens the possibility to evaluate age assignments for many sites. The dating range of this new technique is between a few thousand to at least 1-2 million years, which covers approximately the entire Pleistocene epoch. However, this method, which is still under research, contains some problems, especially the still unknown process of uranium accumulation in teeth. Nevertheless, comparative studies with other dating methods, e.g., at Bilzingsleben gave very promising results.