New ESR and U-series dating at Caune de l'Arago,France: A key-site for European Middle Pleistocene |
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| Institution: | 1. Département de Préhistoire, Muséum National d''histoire Naturelle, UMR7194, 1, Rue René Panhard, 75013 Paris, France;2. Department of Geography Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China;3. State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China;4. Département de Préhistoire, Muséum National d''histoire Naturelle, UMR7194, Centre Européen de Recherches Préhistoriques, Avenue Grégory, 66720 Tautavel, France;1. State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China;2. Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China;1. Sheffield Luminescence Laboratory, Geography Department, University of Sheffield, Winter St., Sheffield S10 2TN, UK;2. Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, Northgate House, West Street, Sheffield S1 4ET, UK;3. Environment Department, University of York, Heslington, York SO10 5DD, UK;1. School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom;2. SoGE, University of Oxford, OX1 3QY, United Kingdom;3. Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Winter St., Sheffield, S10 2TN, United Kingdom;1. Luminescence Dating Laboratory, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow, 226007, India;2. Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali, 140306, India;3. Centre for Nuclear Technologies, Risoe-DTU, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark;4. Geosciences Division, Physical Research Laboratory, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, 380009, India;5. Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Faculty of Arts, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, 390002, India;6. Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, 390002, India;7. Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160014, India;8. CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Uppal Road, Hyderabad, 500007, India;1. Guangxi Institute of Cultural Relic Protection and Archaeology, Nanning 530003, Chine;2. Museum of Nanning City, Nanning 530219, Chine;3. School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, Chine;4. Museum of Tiandong County, Tiandong 531599, Chine |
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| Abstract: | The Caune de l'Arago, located at Tautavel in the southern part of France, is one of the best documented Middle Pleistocene sites allowing a good understanding of human evolution in Europe. Since its discovery in 1829, the cave yielded more than 140 human remains associated with abundant lithic industries and thousands of faunal remains in a 10 m thick stratigraphical sequence divided in three complexes (Lumley et al., 2014). The Lower stratigraphic complex is only known from cores while the Middle and Upper ones can be divided into about 17 main archaeological levels indexed from the bottom to the top: from level Q to level A. Since 1981, a number of dates were done using practically all the methods available for dating Quaternary period up to 700 ka. U-series dates performed on the upper stalagmitic floor yielded a minimum age of 400 ka for human remains found in the underneath level G (Falguères et al., 2004). This age range confirmed the direct non-destructive gamma-ray age published more than 30 years before (Yokoyama and Nguyen, 1981). Recently, a methodological work was published on herbivorous teeth coming from different parts of the G level highlighting the difficulties to get reliable radiometric dates on a level so rich in bones and partly weathered by guano deposits or issues associated with carbonate accumulation (Han et al., 2010).This study presents new ESR/U-Series dates obtained on herbivorous teeth coming from the lowest excavated layers (Q–P levels) which yield an age range for the entire thick archaeological infilling. The new results suggest that the sedimentological levels containing lithic and faunal artefacts began to be deposited at 550 ka in the P–Q levels and a younger age of 350–400 ka for the F level. The P–Q levels which have yielded bifaces are one of the oldest evidence of the Acheulian culture in the southern part of Western Europe while the dates obtained on G level suggest a contemporaneity with la Sima de los Huesos and TD10 Dolina level at Atapuerca. |
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| Keywords: | Combined ESR/U-Series Middle Pleistocene Arago Acheulian |
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