A REFINED CHRONOLOGY FOR PERSPEKTYWICZNA CAVE, POLAND: A MULTI-METHOD LUMINESCENCE DATING APPROACH

Perspektywiczna Cave is a limestone cave located within the Udorka Valley, southern Poland. The surrounding area, known as the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, is known for the numerous caves that have been explored. The Jurassic age limestone cave remained untouched until 2012 when a test excavation in the cave uncovered intact Upper Pleistocene and Holocene sediments spanning seventeen archaeological layers. Recent excavations at the site revealed that the site was occupied throughout the Late Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, the Roman Period, and throughout the Middle Ages. The archaeological assemblages suggest that the site was used repeatedly, for several millennia, as a dwelling site. The cave provides a unique opportunity to study the relationship between human groups and their use of natural resources.

The Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating technique can directly date sediments associated with artefacts and periods of human occupations. The method relies on the capacity of certain minerals to record the amount of natural radiation to which they have been exposed during burial. In the summer of 2022, we collected ten samples from the lower chamber of Perspektywiczna Cave for OSL dating purposes. The samples were prepared in the laboratory using conventional procedures.

The equivalent doses (De) values of coarse-grained quartz and potassium (K)-rich feldspars were measured using the single-aliquot regenerative (SAR) protocol. Here we compare single- and multi-grain De values from Perspektywiczna Cave to better understand the bleaching and nature of the deposits within the cave. The dose rates (Dr) of the samples were measured using a multi-method approach: inductively coupled mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and low-background high-resolution gamma spectrometry. The ratio of the De and Dr values give the burial age of the sample. The OSL dating results are crucial to understanding the depositional and occupational history of the cave and developing a concise chronological framework. The De, Dr, and Age results from Perspektywiczna Cave will be discussed at the symposium.