Published July 2012 | Version v1
Journal article Metadata-only

Preliminary results of combined ESR/U-series dating of fossil teeth from Longgupo cave, China

Creators

  • 1. Departement de Prehistoire Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, UMR7194 du CNRS, 1, rue Rene Panhard 75013 Paris, (France)
  • 2. State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, (China)
  • 3. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 142, Xizhimenwai Street, Beijing 100044, PR ChinaYin, Gongming (China)
  • 4. Laboratory of Human Evolution, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, (China)
  • 5. cUMR 7041 CNRS ArSCAN, equipe AnTET, universite Paris Ouest-Nanterre La Defense, 21, allee de l'Universite, 92023 Nanterre cedex, (France)
  • 6. Chongqing Three Gorges Institute of Paleoanthropology, China Three Gorges Museum, Chongqing 400015, PR (China)
  • 7. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 142, Xizhimenwai Street, Beijing 100044, PR (China)
  • 8. Department of Geography, University of Rouen, UMR 6266 CNRS IDEES, 76821 Mont St Aignan cedex, (France)
  • 9. CEA, DRT, LIST, Laboratoire National Henri Becquerel, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, (France)

Description

Longgupo Cave site, located in Wushan County, Chongqing, China has attracted continuous attention since its discovery of hominid remains in association with late Pliocene-early Pleistocene fauna and numerous lithic artefacts. In 2003-2006, new excavation was carried out on this site, allowing the description of a detailed stratigraphy of the highly complex cave in-fillings and the sampling of teeth for combined ESR/U-series analyses. Here we report preliminary dating results of seven herbivorous fossil teeth from different archaeological layers of the lowest geological unit (C III). Uranium-series analyses indicate that no obvious uranium leaching has occurred and all the teeth (except one) underwent a very recent uranium uptake history. The obtained US-ESR results show that the age of six teeth are basically consistent, between similar to 1.4 and 1.8 Ma. At the same time, we observed an inverse correlation of two samples with the stratigraphic sequence. This could be caused by the distinct uranium uptake history of one sample, high uranium content in the enamel for another or bad estimation of external dose rate. Due to the complexity of the stratigraphic sequence, supplementary in situ gamma dose rate measurement should be performed for all the samples during the following excavations in order to confirm this preliminary ESR/U-series chronology. (authors)

Availability note (English)

Available from doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2012.03.006

Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1016/j.quageo.2012.03.006;

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Quaternary Geochronology
Journal Volume
10
Journal Page Range
p. 436-442
ISSN
1871-1014

INIS

Country of Publication
Netherlands
Country of Input or Organization
France
INIS RN
45026973
Subject category
S38: RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY; S37: INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY;
Descriptors DEI
AGE ESTIMATION; CHINA; DOSE RATES; ELECTRON SPIN RESONANCE; ENAMELS; PLEISTOCENE EPOCH; TEETH; UPTAKE; URANIUM
Descriptors DEC
ACTINIDES; ASIA; CENOZOIC ERA; COATINGS; DIGESTIVE SYSTEM; ELEMENTS; GEOLOGIC AGES; MAGNETIC RESONANCE; METALS; ORAL CAVITY; QUATERNARY PERIOD; RESONANCE

Optional Information

Notes
37 refs.