Scientists at The University of Manchester have developed a new way of dating archaeological objects – using fire and water to unlock their ‘internal clocks’. The simple method promises to be as significant a technique for dating ceramic materials as radiocarbon dating has become for organic materials such as bone or wood. A team from The University of Manchester and The University of Edinburgh has discovered a new technique which they call ‘rehydroxylation dating’ that can be used on fired clay ceramics like bricks, tile and pottery. Working with The Museum of London, the team has been able to date brick samples from Roman, medieval and modern periods with remarkable accuracy. They have established that their technique can be used to determine the age of objects up to 2,000 years old – but believe it has the potential to be used to date objects around 10,000 years old. The exciting new findings have been published online today (20 May 2009) by the Proceedings of the Royal Society A. The method relies on the fact that fired clay ceramic material will start to chemically react with atmospheric moisture as soon as it is removed from […]