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In this work we present luminescence analyses of material taken from a Neolithic hearth in the Sahara Desert in Egypt. The sample was taken from a beach sand layer which contained traces of charcoal. The sample was dated using quartz luminescence, and its luminescence properties were investigated to find whether it had been heated by fire. In doing so we established a procedure to distinguish heated and unheated quartz at single grain level.

The OSL age estimate of the sample is 10.6 +/- 0.4 ka. Luminescence properties were measured using about 40,000 individual grains. Using an approach similar to that used to measure thermal activation characteristics (TAC), we compared the distribution of OSL sensitivity of single grains following different thermal treatments. It was found that higher temperatures and longer treatment times change the sensitivity distributions systematically from that observed using the natural sample. We conclude that the grains examined in our dating study were not heated by fire prior to burial, and that the hearth is not older than the OSL age. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.