Journal article
Multi-method (TL and OSL), multi-material (quartz and flint) dating of the Mousterian site of Roc de Marsal (Dordogne, France): correlating Neanderthal occupations with the climatic variability of MIS 5–3
Center for Nuclear Technologies, Technical University of Denmark1
Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Genève2
Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées3
Radiation Physics, Center for Nuclear Technologies, Technical University of Denmark4
Université de Bordeaux5
Musée National de Préhistoire6
University of Pennsylvania7
Max Planck Institute8
Simon Fraser University9
Boston University10
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle11
...and 1 moreRoc de Marsal has yielded numerous remains of Mousterian occupations, including lithics, fauna and combustion features. It was made famous by the discovery of the skeleton of a Neanderthal child. Given the need to date the sequence, TL and OSL were applied on heated flints and quartz, and OSL on unheated quartz.
Chronological results combined with palaeoenvironmental data – faunal remains and micromorphological features in the sediments from the cave, pollen proxies and faunal remains from the region – allowed us to place climate variations in southwest France on a numerical time scale. Denticulate Mousterian occupations were dated to the middle of MIS 4 (65–70 ka) and Quina layers either to the very end of MIS 4 or to MIS 3.
Interestingly, a faunal pattern showing a mix of red deer, roe deer and reindeer was found to have occurred during MIS 4, which was shown to be consistent with data from other similar sites in southwest France.
Language: | English |
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Publisher: | Academic Press |
Year: | 2012 |
Pages: | 3071-3084 |
ISSN: | 03054403 and 10959238 |
Types: | Journal article |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.jas.2012.04.047 |
ORCIDs: | Jain, Mayank and Thomsen, Kristina Jørkov |