Luminescence dating of fluvial deposits in the rock shelter of Cueva Antón, Spain
Abstract
The fluvial sediments at Cueva Antón, a Middle Palaeolithic rock shelter located in the valley
of the River Mula (Southeast Spain), produced abundant lithic assemblages of Mousterian affinities.
Radiocarbon dates are available for the upper part of the archaeological succession, while for the
middle to lower parts chronometric data have been missing. Here we present luminescence dating results for these parts of the succession. Quartz OSL on small aliquots and single grain measurements yield ages ranging from 69 ± 7 ka to 82 ± 8 ka with a weighted mean of 72 ± 4 ka for sub-complexes AS2 to AS5. Equivalent dose estimates from large aliquots were highest and inconsistent with those from single grains and small multiple grain aliquots. This is probably caused by the presence of oversaturating grains, which have been quantified by single grain measurements. Additional post-IR IRSL measurements on coarse grained feldspar give strong support to a well-bleached quartz OSL signal. While independent chronometric control is missing, the results are within the expected age range and support the notion of a rapid accumulation of the fluvial deposits.
Bibliography
Burow, C., Kehl, M., Hilgers, A., Weniger, G., Angelucci, D., Villaverde, V., Zapata, J., Zilhao, J. (2015): Luminescence dating of fluvial deposits in the rock shelter of Cueva Antón, Spain. – In: Geochronometria, Vol. 42(1), p: 107-125, DOI: DOI: 10.1515/geochr-2015-0010
| author | Burow, Christoph and Kehl, Martin and Hilgers, Alexandra and Weniger, Gerd-Christian and Angelucci, Diego A. and Villaverde, Valentín and Zapata, Josefina and Zilhao, Joao |
|---|---|
| doi | DOI: 10.1515/geochr-2015-0010 |
| journal | Geochronometria |
| key | ChristophBurow2015 |
| number | 1 |
| pages | 107-125 |
| type | article |
| volume | 42 |
| year | 2015 |