A rapid and effective TL technique to authenticate ancient Chinese pottery is proposed in the paper. Twenty three samples, ranging in age from 200 to 9000 a, including multiple styles and shapes and drawn from diverse and remote areas in China have been used to establish the typical annual dose as 5.5mGy/a and its associated deviation. Ten unauthenticated samples are then appraised using the technique which, in nearly all cases, leads to satisfactory results.