Stratum.black Open reference

Glossary · Authentication

Thermoluminescence test

A laboratory test of fired clay that measures the light released on heating from trapped electrons accumulated since the last firing, giving a firing date within roughly ±20 %.

A laboratory test of fired clay that measures the light released on heating from trapped electrons accumulated since the last firing, giving a firing date within roughly ±20 %. It authenticates a ceramic as ancient; it says nothing about a stone, a metal or a restored area, and the drilled sample holes should be visible on the record photos.

Sources

Cite this article

Stratum Study. "Thermoluminescence test" (Glossary). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-16. https://stratum.black/study/glossary/tl-test. Accessed 2026-09-21.

BibTeX · CSL-JSON

@misc{stratum-tl-test,
  title        = {Thermoluminescence test},
  author       = {{Stratum Study}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/glossary/tl-test}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Glossary article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-16; sources: stratum. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
}

Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.

Sources for this article: Stratum editorial (Stratum editorial). As of 2026-09-16; Study pack 2026.09. Written by Stratum in our own words; the works cited are where the science lives, and none of their text is reproduced here.

Found an error? Write to drew@tyr.ac with the article id glossary:tl-test.

Stratum is the inventory, provenance and certificate system for fossil, mineral and shell collections. Study is its open reference: every fact cites its source, and the credits page lists each one with its licence.

CreditsVerifySitemap