Using rock surface luminescence dating of stone tools to track early human migration throughout the world

In this project we propose, for the first time, to date directly human artefacts made of chert by developing the recently-proposed rock-surface luminescence dating (RSLD) method. Modern archaeology has discovered various sites all over the world relating to migration of early humans and their relatives, such as Neanderthals and Denisovans. However, great discussion has arisen about when this populating of the continents took place. The most commonly used radiocarbon dating is often not applicable due to the lack of usable organic material, and of course because much of this migration took place before ~ 50,000 years ago, the limit of the method. RSLD has the potential to be applied to cobbles, stone tools, or even the chipped flakes produced in abundance during the manufacture of tools; all that is required is that these materials were exposed to daylight at the time of use. Using this novel approach will allow us to assign ages to presently undatable sites back to ~200,000 years, perhaps more. This project will allow the development of a much more accurate and precise chronology for human migration and site occupation, providing answers to questions debated for decades, if not centuries.