Qesem cave is a Middle Pleistocene site located close to Tel Aviv, Israel, assigned to the Acheuleo-Yabrudian Cultural Complex (AYCC) of the Lower Palaeolithic. The site provides rich assemblages of ...knapped flint, animal remains and some human teeth making it of particular interest. Its location in the Levantine corridor confers a major interest to the understanding of human dynamics during the Middle Pleistocene.
A series of 6 herbivorous teeth from the base of the 11 m archaeological sequence of AYCC Qesem Cave was analysed by combined ESR/U-series method; this complements previous dating series carried out on teeth and on heated flints on higher parts of the sequence (Mercier et al., 2013; Falguères et al., 2016) The teeth were measured according a regular protocol for which each tissue was analysed by inductively coupled plasma-quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-Q-MS) for U-series using a combination of a Thermo iCAP-RQ mass spectrometer coupled to a Cetac Aridus III desolvator system, and ESR analyses were implemented on enamel tissue. All these data were combined in order to yield modelled ages.
The goal was to find out whether there was a time gap between the carbonates layers dated to 420 ka (Gopher et al., 2010) and archaeological layers of the AYCC found throughout the cave's sequence. The new results yield ages ranging between 220 and 430 ka confirming a great antiquity and a long duration of AYCC in the Levant.
•ESR/U-series on teeth in the lowest part of the Qesem sequence.•To get the maximum AYCC extension.•Replace the Qesem sequence in the general stratigraphic scheme in Levant area.
Museum collections are extremely valuable sources of material for ongoing research, although the conservation history of some objects is not always recorded, which can be problematic for chemical ...analyses. While most contamination is removed using the acid-base-acid treatment, this may not be the case for cross-linked contamination. The XAD resin protocol was implemented at the radiocarbon (14C) laboratory in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, and the setup was tested using known age bone samples and a consolidated Palaeolithic bone. Known age samples were consolidated with shellac or Paraloid, aged for a month, treated with or without the XAD resin and 14C dated. Bone blank results showed that XAD resin was able to remove shellac, which was not the case for the ABA-only method. Results from VIRI I were more variable and VIRI F was possibly too young to show the effects of the consolidants. Two 14C dates on the Palaeolithic bone after XAD treatment are statistically the same, while a sample without XAD treatment was significantly older, suggesting that the contaminant was not fully removed by the ABA-only treatment. This study demonstrates the potential of the XAD treatment to clean heritage bone samples stored in museums prior to geochemical analyses.
The olive tree was an iconic plant for most of the past Mediterranean civilizations, for which it had important economic value. Here we report the earliest use of fruits and wood from olive trees in ...Africa so far, around 100,000 years ago. These findings suggest the presence of olive trees on the Atlantic coast of Morocco during most of the last glacial period, and the use of olives by the early Homo sapiens for fuel management and most probably for consumption.
Establishing chronologies of archaeological sites by using a single dating method may not always reliably constrain the age of a deposit or a fossil, as potential biases may naturally arise, ...particularly in complex sedimentary settings such as caves. In this study, we performed a multi-technique dating approach that targets different materials in two caves from the Cueva Mayor-Cueva del Silo karst system, Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain. Two new fossil teeth from lithostratigraphic unit LU4 (GE-I pit) at Galería de las Estatuas have been dated by combined U-series/ESR and Amino Acid Racemisation (AAR) methods. The former provides ages of 117 ± 13 and 87 ± 9 ka that agree with previous dating studies of this Neandertal site, confirming the assignment of level LU4 to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5. In contrast, AAR analyses produce very scattered ages, pointing to significant post-burial chemical modifications in dentine. A first set of ages is presented for the Cata Litario pit at Sala de los Cíclopes, a palaeontological site formed exclusively of cave bear fossils belonging to the Middle Pleistocene species Ursus deningeri. We provide U-series/ESR and AAR ages for two bear teeth from lithostratigraphic unit LU5, and extended-range luminescence ages for the sediment deposits that host, and immediately underlie and overlie, the bear accumulation. Depositional ages of the sediment were obtained using single-grain thermally-transferred optically stimulated luminescence (TT-OSL) dating of individual quartz grains and post-infrared-infrared stimulated luminescence (pIR-IR) dating of K-feldspars. Several speleothems, both in situ and reworked fragments embedded in the different lithostratigraphic units, have additionally been dated by U-series to constrain the timing of the sequence formation. The results indicate that the sediment originally entered the cave between MIS-12 and MIS-10 (444 ± 28 ka to 367 ± 32 ka). Nevertheless, the AAR and U-series/ESR fossil ages, as well as some of the speleothem fragment ages from LUs 5 and 6 are significantly younger. Leaving aside methodologically questionable results for one of the bear tooth samples, the most reliable AAR and U-Series/ESR ages range from 287 ± 23 ka to 256 ± 24, while the speleothem fragments indicate several formation episodes between 444 ± 19 and 284 ± 8 ka. The apparent difference between the U-Series/ESR ages on the fossils and the luminescence ages on the host sediment are not likely to be wholly explained by uncertainties on uranium uptake modelling or gamma dose rate evaluation, and thus is most likely related to taphonomic processes or a complex site formation history.
The presence of fossils and eroded speleothem clasts of younger age within these levels is consistent with either an event of prior erosion, transport and resedimentation of LUs 4, 5 and 6, and/or a complex post-depositional mixing history for the stratigraphic sequence at Cata Litario. This study highlights the importance of using different dating methods to reconstruct reliable chronological frameworks, and to understand the geological factors that can affect the dated materials. This includes the accumulation and taphonomic histories of fossils, post-depositional mixing or reworking processes affecting sediments during the residence time within the karst system.
Qesem Cave is a Middle Pleistocene site situated 12 km east of the Mediterranean coast of Tel Aviv, Israel. It is attributed to the Acheuleo-Yabrudian Cultural Complex (AYCC) of the late Lower ...Paleolithic period, dated to ca. 420–200ka. This site exhibits a unique prehistoric sequence where the Amudian blade dominated industry is the main cultural component, however the scraper-dominated Yabrudian industry is also represented in distinct contexts at the cave. The chronology established by TL applied on burnt flints, ESR/U-series on herbivorous teeth and U-series on spelothems, suggests that Qesem Cave is one of the oldest sites yielding such a blade industry and a fully-fledged trajectory of Quina scrapers production.
This work presents new ESR/U-series dates on four animal teeth unearthed from an Amudian central hearth recently published and four other teeth from a Yabrudian industry-bearing layer in the shelf area. The dates range from 249 to 296ka for the Amudian hearth (mean age of 280ka) and from 279 to 382ka for the Yabrudian layer (mean age of 313ka). These radiometric dates provide new information on the chronology of the Amudian and Yabrudian industries in the hearth and shelf areas and contribute towards a better understanding of the chronology of Qesem Cave as a whole. This is the first time we have direct dates from Amudian and Yabrudian context from a single site.
The Cueva del Angel (Lucena, Spain) is an open-air archaeological site with a sedimentary sequence remnant of a collapsed rock shelter which was part of a still active karst complex. The lithic ...assemblage consists essentially of abundant retouched tools including 46 identified handaxes along with non-modified flakes, and is associated with faunal remains dominated by Equus ferus and other large bovids and cervids. A large proportion of bones has undergone intense anthropic actions and been subjected to intense fire, thus evidencing sustained use of animal meat resources by humans.
In order to better ascertain the chronological framework of the site, we dated several proxies. Various speleothem samples were processed by U-series using a coupled induced plasma mass spectrometer (ICPMS-MC). The resulting isotopic ratios are beyond the secular equilibrium and show that these samples do not appear to be in direct stratigraphic relation with the archaeological sequence.
Nine Equus teeth were analyzed by the combined ESR/U-series method. These samples were taken from Unit I to Unit XVI representing at least 2.5 m of stratigraphic depth and approximately 90% of the infilling. Many of the dated samples are burnt given that more than 85% of the faunal remains exhibit traces of fire exposure.
The bone retouchers, for which a comparative analysis with other sites has been published (Moigne et al., 2016), were probably produced during the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS 11-5) chronological interval corresponding to the later part of the Middle Pleistocene, inference that is in agreement with the palaeontological assemblage of the site. The radiometric results presented here are consistent and indicate a range from 350 to 183 ka, suggesting that a major part of the sedimentary infilling coinciding with the human occupation was contemporaneous with the MIS 9 to 7 time period.
•The Cueva del Angel site, Spain evidencing bifacial Acheulean industry in a cave environment.•More than 85% of the fauna has been subjected to intense fire throughout the archaeological sequence.•The dating results suggest a MIS 9 to MIS 7 period of human occupation.
The new anticonvulsant N-(5′-methylisoxazol-3-yl)-2,6-dimethylbenzamide (D2916), which presents two kinds of methyl groups which could be oxidized, was submitted to various chemical oxidizing agents. ...Several sites and degrees of oxidation were observed. The main oxidized site was the arylmethyl group without cleavage of the isoxazole ring, leading via carboxylic acid and primary alcohol intermediates to phthalimide and lactame derivatives. In no case was the methyl group of the isoxazole moiety hydroxylated.
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