OSL Dating a Stone Prayer Site in Maine - Preliminary Results

Been Patiently Awaiting This Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating Almost Two Years...

A Possible Stone Prayer (Feature 43) in Maine. Photo by Mike Luoma (Spring 2022).

After waiting for almost two years, landowner Dan E. has finally gotten preliminary OSL (Optically Stimulated Luminescence) Dating results back on sampling of potential Stone Prayers done with help from NEARA (New England Antiquities Research Association) folks and Dr. Curtiss Hoffman at Dan’s site on a mountainside in Oxford County, Maine back in October of 2022.

The sampling is chronicled on video in Experiencing a NEARA Research Trip to A Stone Site in Maine -

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OSL Dating was done by Dr. Michael Strange (Phd) and the team at Utah State University. Dan shared the news this morning:

Correspondence Provided by Dan E. Screen Capture Courtesy of Dan E.

Table by Vance Tiede of NEARA Provided Courtesy of Dan E.

The latest (mean) dates were  between 1674 – 1734.

That could be pre-Contact in this part of Maine. It’s certainly pre-settlement. The earliest land grants in this part of Maine appeared in the 1760’s – Bethel’s is 1768. The first settlers followed soon after.

The earliest OSL Mean Date that came back was 1576 BC.

Two tests were done on Feature 43. One brought back an age of 350 +/- 50, the second 290 +/- 50. In other words, a mean date of 1674 (ranging from 1624 to 1724), and a mean date of 1734 (ranging from 1684 to 1784).

“Feature 43” from the Other Side. Photo by Amanda Riani (Summer 2022).

The test on Feature 75 brought back an age of 1510 +/- 390, Mean Date 514 AD (range 124 AD to 904 AD).

The test on Feature 59 brought back an age of 3600 +/- 360, Mean Date 1576 BC (range 1936 BC to 1216 BC.

This, again, is the first information we’re getting back. As indicated by USU (above), a final report is on the way. More to come, for sure. Still, I wanted to share some very interesting if also very preliminary research news that came my way today.

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