ORCID Profile
0000-0003-3181-7753
Current Organisation
Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Archaeology | Archaeology of Asia Africa and the Americas | Archaeology of Europe, the Mediterranean and the Levant | Geochronology | Palaeontology (incl. Palynology) | Geology | Archaeological science | Archaeology of New Guinea and Pacific Islands (excl. New Zealand) | Geology | Isotope Geochemistry | Palaeontology (incl. palynology) | Quaternary environments | Archaeology |
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences | Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change | Ecosystem Assessment and Management at Regional or Larger Scales | Understanding Europe's Past | Understanding Africa's Past | Understanding Past Societies not elsewhere classified | Expanding Knowledge in History and Archaeology
Related Links
Publications
ESR and OSL dating of fossil-bearing deposits from Naracoorte Cave Complex palaeontological sites, south Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2022
OSL dating of individual quartz ‘supergrains’ from the Ancient Middle Palaeolithic site of Cuesta de la Bajada, Spain
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2016
Human footprints provide snapshot of last interglacial ecology in the Arabian interior
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 18-09-2020
Abstract: Ancient human footprints in Saudi Arabia provide snapshot of Arabian ecology 120,000 years ago.
Contexto crono-estratigráfico y cultural del conjunto lítico de Base Menacho (cuenca del río Guadiana, Badajoz, España): primeros resultados
Publisher: AEQUA & SEG
Date: 16-12-2021
DOI: 10.17735/CYG.V35I3-4.89904
Abstract: En este trabajo presentamos el conjunto lítico de Base Menacho (Badajoz, España), documentado en un nivel sedimentario que cubre los depósitos aluviales de la terraza fluvial T3 +10-20 m sobre el cauce actual del río Zapatón, subafluente del río Guadiana en el sector de las Vegas Bajas (Badajoz, España). El conjunto se compone de 46 elementos líticos incluyendo lascas, núcleos y configurados. No se han identificado elementos líticos característicos que permitan una atribución firme a los tecnocomplejos de Modo 2 o 3. Ya que los elementos líticos fueron documentados en arenas finas y no muestran evidencias aparentes de marcas de abrasión, asumimos de forma preliminar la ausencia de transporte (o muy limitado). Estas observaciones sugieren que el conjunto se encuentra en posición primaria. La datación por Resonancia Paramagnética Electrónica (ESR) de una muestra de cuarzo procedente del nivel arqueológico proporciona una edad del enterramiento de 19,2 ± 1,7 ka (1σ). Teniendo en cuenta todas las fuentes de incertidumbre relativas al resultado, esta datación numérica permite: 1) correlacionar a Base Menacho con el Pleistoceno superior final y en particular con el estadio isotópico (MIS) 2 2) establecer indirectamente la cronología de una industria lítica cuyas características poco resolutivas son similares a otros conjuntos relativamente poco estudiados documentados en contextos fluviales de la Península Ibérica y 3) situar a Base Menacho en el Paleolítico superior, un período con escasas evidencias arqueológicas en el interior de la Península Ibérica. Aunque estos resultados preliminares prometedores demuestran el potencial interesante del conjunto lítico de Base Menacho, reconocemos también la necesidad de realizar una excavación arqueológica en un futuro próximo, para aumentar el tamaño del conjunto y obtener una mejor comprensión de su variabilidad y de los procesos de formación del yacimiento.
Middle Pleistocene Human Remains from Tourville-la-Rivière (Normandy, France) and Their Archaeological Context
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 08-10-2014
Multiple hominin dispersals into Southwest Asia over the past 400,000 years
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41586-021-03863-Y
Abstract: Pleistocene hominin dispersals out of, and back into, Africa necessarily involved traversing the erse and often challenging environments of Southwest Asia 1–4 . Archaeological and palaeontological records from the Levantine woodland zone document major biological and cultural shifts, such as alternating occupations by Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. However, Late Quaternary cultural, biological and environmental records from the vast arid zone that constitutes most of Southwest Asia remain scarce, limiting regional-scale insights into changes in hominin demography and behaviour 1,2,5 . Here we report a series of dated palaeolake sequences, associated with stone tool assemblages and vertebrate fossils, from the Khall Amayshan 4 and Jubbah basins in the Nefud Desert. These findings, including the oldest dated hominin occupations in Arabia, reveal at least five hominin expansions into the Arabian interior, coinciding with brief ‘green’ windows of reduced aridity approximately 400, 300, 200, 130–75 and 55 thousand years ago. Each occupation phase is characterized by a distinct form of material culture, indicating colonization by erse hominin groups, and a lack of long-term Southwest Asian population continuity. Within a general pattern of African and Eurasian hominin groups being separated by Pleistocene Saharo-Arabian aridity, our findings reveal the tempo and character of climatically modulated windows for dispersal and admixture.
The Plio-Pleistocene sequence of Oued Boucherit (Algeria): A unique chronologically-constrained archaeological and palaeontological record in North Africa
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2021
First chronostratigraphic framework of fluvial terrace systems in the eastern Cantabrian margin (Bay of Biscay, Spain)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2019
Portable gamma spectrometry with cerium-doped lanthanum bromide scintillators: Suitability assessments for luminescence and electron spin resonance dating applications
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2012
Stratigraphy and chronology of Pleistocene coastal deposits in northern Aquitaine, France: A reinvestigation
Publisher: OpenEdition
Date: 25-04-2019
Direct U-series dating of the Apidima C human remains
Publisher: Kerns Verlag
Date: 2021
DOI: 10.51315/9783935751377.002
Abstract: The site of Apidima, in southern Greece, is one of the most important Paleolithic sites in Greece and southeast Europe. One of the caves belonging to this cave complex, Cave A, has yielded human fossil crania Apidima 1 and 2, showing the presence of an early Homo sapiens population followed by a Neanderthal one in the Middle Pleistocene. Less known are the human remains reportedly recovered from Cave C at Apidima. These include a number of isolated elements, but also a partial skeleton interpreted as a female burial, Apidima 3, proposed by Pitsios (e.g., Pitsios 1999) to be associated with Aurignacian lithics and to date to ca. 30 ka. In light of the rarity of the Upper Paleolithic in Greece, and the general scarcity of human remains associated with the Aurignacian, the remains from Apidima Cave C are potentially very significant in elucidating the arrival of the early Upper Paleolithic populations in Europe. Here we undertake direct Uranium-series dating of three human s les from Cave C, including the burial, to help clarify their chronology. Results suggest a minimum age of terminal Pleistocene for all three s les.
Age of the oldest hominin settlements in Spain: Contribution of the combined U-series/ESR dating method applied to fossil teeth
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2012
Middle Pleistocene vertebrate fossils from the Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia: Implications for biogeography and palaeoecology
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2016
Datación por <i>ESR</i> del yacimiento arqueológico del Pleistoceno inferior de Vallparadís (Terrassa, Cataluña, España)
Publisher: Editorial CSIC
Date: 30-06-2011
ESR dosimetry of fossil enamel: some comments about measurement precision, long-term signal fading and dose-response curve fitting
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 05-07-2013
DOI: 10.1093/RPD/NCT167
Abstract: This work deals with the specific studies of three main sources of uncertainty in electron spin resonance (ESR) dosimetry/dating of fossil tooth enamel: (1) the precision of the ESR measurements, (2) the long-term signal fading the selection of the fitting function. They show a different influence on the equivalent dose (D(E)) estimates. Repeated ESR measurements were performed on 17 different s les: results show a mean coefficient of variation of the ESR intensities of 1.20 ± 0.23 %, inducing a mean relative variability of 3.05 ± 2.29 % in the D(E) values. ESR signal fading over 5 y was also observed: its magnitude seems to be quite s le dependant but is nevertheless especially important for the most irradiated aliquots. This fading has an apparent random effect on the D(E) estimates. Finally, the authors provide new insights and recommendations about the fitting of ESR dose-response curves of fossil enamel with a double saturating exponential (DSE) function. The potential of a new variation of the DSE was also explored. Results of this study also show that the choice of the fitting function is of major importance, maybe more than the other sources previously mentioned, in order to get accurate final D(E) values.
First experimental evaluation of the alpha efficiency in coarse-grained quartz for ESR dating purposes: implications for dose rate evaluation
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-12-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-019-54688-9
Abstract: We present the first experimental evaluation of the alpha efficiency value for electron spin resonance (ESR) dating of coarse quartz grains, which is used for the evaluation of the internal and external alpha dose rate components. Based on our results, we recommend the use of an a-value of 0.07 ± 0.01 (1σ) for both the Al and Ti centres. Although we acknowledge that quartz ESR alpha efficiency may be s le dependent, and could also be impacted by other sources of uncertainty, this potential variability is presently impossible to evaluate given the absence of other experimental a-values available in the ESR dating literature. Measured radioactivity of quartz grains from the Moulouya catchment (NE Morocco) provides an internal dose rate in the range of 50–70 µGy/a when using an a-value of 0.07. The use of this empirically derived a-value for the evaluation of the internal and external alpha dose rate has a limited overall impact on the final ESR age results: they change by % and %, respectively, in comparison with those obtained with an assumed a-value. However, the large variability observed among the broader s le dataset for quartz internal radioactivity and hydrofluoric acid (HF) etching rates underscores the potential importance of undertaking experimental evaluations of alpha dose rate parameters for each dated s le.
The effect of grain size on carbonate contaminant removal from tooth enamel: Towards an improved pretreatment for radiocarbon dating
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2016
Taxonomy, taphonomy and chronology of the Pleistocene faunal assemblage at Ngalau Gupin cave, Sumatra
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2021
On the age of Ain Hanech Oldowan locality (Algeria): First numerical dating results
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2023
Dating the Earliest Pleistocene alluvial terrace of the Alcanadre River (Ebro Basin, NE Spain): Insights into the landscape evolution and involved processes
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2016
Are published ESR dose assessments on fossil tooth enamel reliable?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2016
The earliest modern humans outside Africa
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 26-01-2018
Abstract: Recent paleoanthropological studies have suggested that modern humans migrated from Africa as early as the beginning of the Late Pleistocene, 120,000 years ago. Hershkovitz et al. now suggest that early modern humans were already present outside of Africa more than 55,000 years earlier (see the Perspective by Stringer and Galway-Witham). During excavations of sediments at Mount Carmel, Israel, they found a fossil of a mouth part, a left hemimaxilla, with almost complete dentition. The sediments contain a series of well-defined hearths and a rich stone-based industry, as well as abundant animal remains. Analysis of the human remains, and dating of the site and the fossil itself, indicate a likely age of at least 177,000 years for the fossil—making it the oldest member of the Homo sapiens clade found outside Africa. Science , this issue p. 456 see also p. 389
The first direct ESR dating of a hominin tooth from Atapuerca Gran Dolina TD-6 (Spain) supports the antiquity of Homo antecessor
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2018
Dating and Electron Spin Resonance (
ESR
)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-12-2018
Speleological and environmental history of Lida Ajer cave, western Sumatra
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 07-03-2022
Abstract: Some of the earliest evidence for the presence of modern humans in rainforests has come from the fossil deposits of Lida Ajer in Sumatra. Two human teeth from this cave were estimated to be 73–63 thousand years old, which is significantly older than some estimates of modern human migration out of Africa based on genetic data. The deposits were interpreted as being associated with a rainforest environment based largely on the presence of abundant orangutan fossils. As well as the main fossil-bearing chamber, fossil-bearing passages are present below a sinkhole, although the relationship between the different fossil deposits has only been tenuously established. Here, we provide significant new sedimentological, geochronological and palaeoecological data aimed at reconstructing the speleological and environmental history of the cave and the clastic and fossil deposits therein. Our data suggest that the Lida Ajer fossils were deposited during Marine Isotope Stage 4, with fossils from the lower passages older than the main fossil chamber. Our use of stable carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of mammalian tooth enamel demonstrates that early humans probably occupied a closed-canopy forest very similar to those present in the region today, although the fossil orangutans may have occupied a slightly different niche. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Tropical forests in the deep human past’.
Early human occupations in NW Iberia: The archaeological record of the Lower Miño basin during the second half of the Middle Pleistocene
Publisher: Museum National D'Histoire Naturelle
Date: 11-01-2021
Abstract: The Miño River is one of the main Atlantic basins of Iberia and preserves extensive Pleistocene deposits. However, there is presently limited information concerning the first human occupation history of this region. Existing research undertaken across the region has identified a significant number of Large Flake Acheulean (LFA) sites with African affinities. These sites are associated with former fluvial environments and are now preserved as a sequence of fluvial terraces along the Miño River, located between relative elevations of + 40 m and + 20 m, and dated to between Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 9 and 6. The chronological range and observed technological patterns are similar to those recognised in other areas of South western Europe, particularly the central Iberian Peninsula and Aquitanian region (France) during the second half of the Middle Pleistocene.
Electron spin resonance dating of optically bleached quartz grains from the Middle Palaeolithic site of Cuesta de la Bajada (Spain) using the multiple centres approach
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2017
Reassessing the age of Atapuerca-TD6 (Spain): new paleomagnetic results
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2013
Chronology of the cave interior sediments at Gran Dolina archaeological site, Atapuerca (Spain)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2018
Revisiting the ESR chronology of the Early Pleistocene hominin occupation at Vallparadís (Barcelona, Spain)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2015
Field gamma dose-rate assessment in natural sedimentary contexts using LaBr3 (Ce) and NaI(Tl) probes: A comparison between the threshold and windows techniques
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2013
DOI: 10.1016/J.APRADISO.2012.12.006
Abstract: Results are presented for a series of replicate in situ gamma spectrometry measurements (n=20) made in natural sedimentary contexts using LaBr3(Ce) and NaI(Tl) probes. For both types of detectors, gamma dose rates were calculated using the "threshold" technique (Murray et al., 1978), and compared with results obtained previously by Arnold et al. (2012) using the "windows" technique (Aitken, 1985). Our results show that gamma dose rates obtained using these two techniques are consistent at 1σ for a given probe, and that the threshold technique yields reproducible results for the LaBr3(Ce) and NaI(Tl) probes. In comparison with the energy windows approach, the threshold approach offers an improvement in the precision with which gamma dose rates can be determined using the LaBr3(Ce) probe. The potential of an alternative threshold approach (the "energy threshold" approach of Guérin and Mercier, 2011) was also tested for both probe types, and the resultant gamma dose rates were found to be in agreement with those obtained using the standard threshold and energy windows techniques. Our results provide new insights into methods and instrumentation used for assessing in situ gamma dose rates in Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) and Luminescence dating. We conclude that LaBr3(Ce) probes can reliably be used for portable gamma dosimetry in low level activity sedimentary environments (500-1500μGy/a) when using the threshold approach, provided that their non-negligible internal background activities (equivalent to ∼758μGy/a for our probe) are accurately assessed and subtracted from gamma ray spectra measured in the field. Our results also suggest that there may be some minor merit in applying an internal background-subtraction procedure to NaI(Tl) gamma ray spectra when using the threshold technique, in spite of the lower intrinsic activities of NaI(Tl) detectors.
Comparing two different Early Pleistocene microfaunal sequences from the caves of Atapuerca, Sima del Elefante and Gran Dolina (Spain): Biochronological implications and significance of the Jaramillo
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2015
Author Response: Oxygen isotopes in orangutan teeth reveal recent and ancient climate variation
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 12-09-2023
Quibas-Sima: A unique 1 ma-old vertebrate succession in southern Iberian Peninsula
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2022
Homo sapiens in Arabia by 85,000 years ago
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-04-2018
Single-grain TT-OSL dating results confirm an Early Pleistocene age for the lower Moulouya River deposits (NE Morocco)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2019
The Jaramillo Subchron and the Early-Middle Pleistocene transition in continental records from a multidisciplinary perspective
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2015
On the interest of using the multiple center approach in ESR dating of optically bleached quartz grains: Some examples from the Early Pleistocene terraces of the Alcanadre River (Ebro basin, Spain)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2015
Evaluating the accuracy of ESR dose determination of pseudo-Early Pleistocene fossil tooth enamel samples using dose recovery tests
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2015
The age of Homo naledi and associated sediments in the Rising Star Cave, South Africa
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 09-05-2017
DOI: 10.7554/ELIFE.24231
Abstract: New ages for flowstone, sediments and fossil bones from the Dinaledi Chamber are presented. We combined optically stimulated luminescence dating of sediments with U-Th and palaeomagnetic analyses of flowstones to establish that all sediments containing Homo naledi fossils can be allocated to a single stratigraphic entity (sub-unit 3b), interpreted to be deposited between 236 ka and 414 ka. This result has been confirmed independently by dating three H. naledi teeth with combined U-series and electron spin resonance (US-ESR) dating. Two dating scenarios for the fossils were tested by varying the assumed levels of 222Rn loss in the encasing sediments: a maximum age scenario provides an average age for the two least altered fossil teeth of 253 +82/–70 ka, whilst a minimum age scenario yields an average age of 200 +70/–61 ka. We consider the maximum age scenario to more closely reflect conditions in the cave, and therefore, the true age of the fossils. By combining the US-ESR maximum age estimate obtained from the teeth, with the U-Th age for the oldest flowstone overlying Homo naledi fossils, we have constrained the depositional age of Homo naledi to a period between 236 ka and 335 ka. These age results demonstrate that a morphologically primitive hominin, Homo naledi, survived into the later parts of the Pleistocene in Africa, and indicate a much younger age for the Homo naledi fossils than have previously been hypothesized based on their morphology.
Insights into the relationship between luminescence and ESR dating signals from Spanish sedimentary quartz samples of different geologic origins
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2020
The Acheulean Technocomplex of the Iberian Atlantic Margin as an Example of Technology Continuity Through the Middle Pleistocene
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-05-2020
Age and context of the oldest known hominin fossils from Flores
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-06-2016
DOI: 10.1038/NATURE17663
Abstract: Recent excavations at the early Middle Pleistocene site of Mata Menge in the So'a Basin of central Flores, Indonesia, have yielded hominin fossils attributed to a population ancestral to Late Pleistocene Homo floresiensis. Here we describe the age and context of the Mata Menge hominin specimens and associated archaeological findings. The fluvial sandstone layer from which the in situ fossils were excavated in 2014 was deposited in a small valley stream around 700 thousand years ago, as indicated by (40)Ar/(39)Ar and fission track dates on stratigraphically bracketing volcanic ash and pyroclastic density current deposits, in combination with coupled uranium-series and electron spin resonance dating of fossil teeth. Palaeoenvironmental data indicate a relatively dry climate in the So'a Basin during the early Middle Pleistocene, while various lines of evidence suggest the hominins inhabited a savannah-like open grassland habitat with a wetland component. The hominin fossils occur alongside the remains of an insular fauna and a simple stone technology that is markedly similar to that associated with Late Pleistocene H. floresiensis.
Evaluating the Potential of Q-Band ESR Spectroscopy for Dose Reconstruction of Fossil Tooth Enamel
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 03-2016
New magnetostratigraphic and numerical age of the Fuente Nueva-3 site (Guadix-Baza basin, Spain)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2015
The Middle Paleolithic site of Cuesta de la Bajada (Teruel, Spain): a perspective on the Acheulean and Middle Paleolithic technocomplexes in Europe
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2014
Human Evolution in the Asia-Pacific Realm: Proceedings of the 1st Asia-Pacific Conference on Human Evolution
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2021
Effect of deposit alterations on the dating of herbivorous teeth from Arago cave by the ESR–U-series method
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2010
On the fallacy of using orthogenetic models of rectilinear change in arvicolid teeth for estimating the age of the first human settlements in Western Europe
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 17-04-2015
MCDoseE 2.0 A new Markov Chain Monte Carlo program for ESR dose response curve fitting and dose evaluation
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2018
Los Villares locality (Ruidera, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain): a new Middle Pleistocene fossil assemblage from the Southern Iberian Plateau with possible evidence of human activity
Publisher: AEQUA & SEG
Date: 27-06-2022
DOI: 10.17735/CYG.V36I1-2.90422
Abstract: We present the discovery of a Middle Pleistocene fossil assemblage at Los Villares (Ruidera, Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha), which has possible evidence of associated human activity. The potential of the site has been evaluated through multidisciplinary research including taxonomy, anatomy, deep learning, and direct dating of fossil remains. A surface study carried out in 2017, over a very limited area (2 m2) on the slope of one of the Ruidera lakes led to the discovery of more than 50 fossil specimens, including cranial (mainly teeth) and postcranial remains. This rich assemblage is dominated by the remains of Caprinae, although the presence of some small or medium carnivore remains also stands out. The identification of a cut mark, tested with Convolutional Neural Networks, suggests the presence of human activity within the bone assemblage. Several fossils were directly dated using a multi-technique approach involving radiocarbon, U-Th, and ESR methods. The results constrain the fossil assemblage to between 300 ka and 400 ka, positioning Los Villares as one of the first Middle Pleistocene localities identified in the Upper Guadiana basin, on the Southern edge of the Southern Iberian Plateau. These promising initial results show the great potential of the site to contribute to filling a gap of knowledge in the Pleistocene archaeo-paleontological record of the Iberian Peninsula. Nevertheless, we also acknowledge the need for systematic excavations in the future, not only to obtain a better idea of the lateral and stratigraphic extension of the fossil assemblage and its complete taxonomic composition but to confirm the human presence at the site.
ESR Dating of Optically Bleached Quartz Grains: Assessing the Impact of Different Experimental Setups on Dose Evaluations
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Date: 2021
Abstract: In recent years, our investigation has been centred on improving the reliability and accuracy of the ESR method applied to quartz grains. As part of this ongoing investigation, we present an intra-laboratory study to evaluate the impact of different experimental setups on the ESR measurement precision and dose evaluation for ESR dating of optically bleached quartz grains. Repeated measurements of quartz s les have been performed at CENIEH, Spain, using two different Bruker spectrometers (EMXmicro and Elexsys E500) and resonators (standard rectangular ER4102ST and cylindrical Super High QE cavities). Their performance in terms of sensitivity, measurement repeatability and dose determination are presented in this study. This intra-laboratory work has allowed to evaluate the robustness of our protocol for ESR dating of quartz grains and to study the potential impact of different experimental setups on dose evaluation, which is essential for future standardization of the ESR dating method. Our results indicate that all the different experimental setups provide comparable precision of the ESR intensity measurements. Moreover, all the ESR dose estimates are within 1-sigma error, suggesting that it is possible to compare results obtained by different laboratories when similar analytical procedures are followed. Finally, the higher sensitivity achieved by the SHQE resonator appears to be of particular interest when dealing with s les showing low ESR signal intensities.
A multi-technique dating study of two Lower Palaeolithic sites from the Cher Valley (Middle Loire Catchment, France): Lunery-la Terre-des-Sablons and Brinay-la Noira
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2020
A new Lower Pleistocene archeological site in Europe (Vallparadís, Barcelona, Spain)
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 15-03-2010
Abstract: Here we report the discovery of a new late Lower Pleistocene site named Vallparadís (Barcelona, Spain) that produced a rich archeological and paleontological sequence dated from the upper boundary of the Jaramillo subchron to the early Middle Pleistocene. This deposit contained a main archeological layer with numerous artifacts and a rich macromammalian assemblage, some of which bore cut marks, that could indicate that hominins had access to carcasses. Paleomagnetic analysis, electron spin resonance-uranium series (ESR-US), and the biostratigraphic chronological position of the macro- and micromammal and lithic assemblages of this layer reinforce the proposal that hominins inhabited Europe during the Lower Pleistocene. The archeological sequence provides key information on the successful adaptation of European hominins that preceded the well-known fossil population from Atapuerca and succeeded the finds from Orce basin. Hence, this discovery enables us to close a major chronological gap in the early prehistory of Iberia. According to the information in this paper and the available data from these other sites, we propose that Mediterranean Western Europe was repeatedly and perhaps continuously occupied during the late Matuyama chron.
Electron spin resonance (ESR) dating in Quaternary studies: evolution, recent advances and applications
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2020
Oxygen isotopes in orangutan teeth reveal recent and ancient climate variation
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 12-09-2023
First evidence of an extensive Acheulean large cutting tool accumulation in Europe from Porto Maior (Galicia, Spain)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-02-2018
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-018-21320-1
Abstract: We describe a European Acheulean site characterised by an extensive accumulation of large cutting tools (LCT). This type of Lower Paleolithic assemblage, with dense LCT accumulations, has only been found on the African continent and in the Near East until now. The identification of a site with large accumulations of LCTs favours the hypothesis of an African origin for the Acheulean of Southwest Europe. The lithic tool-bearing deposits date back to 293–205 thousand years ago. Our chronological findings confirm temporal overlap between sites with clear “African” Acheulean affinities and Early Middle Paleolithic sites found elsewhere in the region. These complex technological patterns could be consistent with the potential coexistence of different human species in south-western Europe during the Middle Pleistocene.
Response to Comment on “The earliest modern humans outside Africa”
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 26-10-2018
Abstract: Our original claim, based on three independent numerical dating methods, of an age of ~185,000 years for the Misliya-1 modern human hemi-maxilla from Mount Carmel, Israel, is little affected by discounting uranium-series dating of adhering crusts. It confirms a much earlier out-of-Africa Homo sapiens expansion than previously suggested by the considerably younger (90,000 to 120,000 years) Skhul/Qafzeh hominins.
Comments on “ESR dating of the Majuangou and Banshan Paleolithic sites in the Nihewan Basin, North China” by Liu et al. (2014)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2016
Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Río Quípar: a Dated Late Early Pleistocene Palaeolithic Site in Southeastern Spain
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-10-2020
Investigating the resetting of IRSL signals in beach cobbles and their potential for rock surface dating of marine terraces in Northern Chile
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2022
ESR dating of fossil teeth: In which extent the thickness of adjacent tissues should be taken into account in the external beta dose rate evaluation?
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Date: 2019
Abstract: We used DosiVox to evaluate the impact of cement thickness on the dose effectively absorbed by the enamel layer. Until now, the thickness of the dental tissues adjacent to the enamel layer was not considered by any of the most widely used combined US-ESR dating programs (DATA and USESR). Instead, if adjacent tissues are present, their thickness is by default assumed to be sufficient to fulfill the infinite matrix conditions. Our result suggest that such an assumption may represent in first instance a fair approximation of the reality, as even with a thickness of only 1 mm, the cement contributes to at least 98% of the beta dose rate coming from the outer side of the enamel layer. However, when cement is 1 mm thick, DATA or USESR would overestimate the external beta dose rate and the value should be corrected accordingly by considering the relative contribution of the sediment. The impact of this correction on the total dose rate may vary, as it is directly dependent on the radioactivity of the cement itself, as well as of the sediment or dentine. Our results show that a very thin cement layer (0.1 mm-thick) can significantly contribute to the beta dose rate and should therefore not be neglected. Consequently, based on these results, we recommend the systematic measurement of the thickness of the dental tissues adjacent to the enamel layer during s le preparation, in order to proceed to beta dose rate corrections if necessary. Although this work has been especially focused on the case of fossil teeth showing cement, the conclusions stand for any other geometry involving different dental tissues adjacent to the enamel layer dated by ESR.
Insights into the late stages of the Acheulean technocomplex of Western Iberia from the Arbo site (Galicia, Spain)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2019
A multidisciplinary overview of the lower Miño River terrace system (NW Iberian Peninsula): A response to comments by Viveen et al. (2020)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2020
ESR dosimetry of optically bleached quartz grains extracted from Plio-Quaternary sediment: Evaluating some key aspects of the ESR signals associated to the Ti-centers
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2015
Sobre el potencial de la Resonancia Paramagnética Electrónica como herramienta geocronológica en contextos geoarqueológicos: un resumen de 30 años de investigación en la Península Ibérica.
Publisher: Instituto Geologico y Minero de Espana
Date: 03-2018
Oxygen isotopes in orangutan teeth reveal recent and ancient climate variation
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 12-09-2023
DOI: 10.7554/ELIFE.90217
Deciphering long-term coastal dynamics using IR-RF and ESR dating: a case study from Médoc, south-west France
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2018
Cranial remains of Ramsayia magna from the Late Pleistocene of Australia and the evolution of gigantism in wombats (Marsupialia, Vombatidae)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2022
DOI: 10.1002/SPP2.1475
Abstract: Giant wombats (defined here as ≥70 kg) are found in the genera Phascolonus , Ramsayia and perhaps Sedophascolomys . Ramsayia is currently the most poorly known, having been described from mandibular and cranial fragments. Here, we report the most complete cranial remains attributable to the genus, identified as R. magna . The specimen provides new insights into the anatomy of the species and evolutionary adaptations to gigantism in Vombatidae. We record parietal sinuses in a vombatid for the first time, an adaptation to increased skull size relative to the braincase. The presence of a prominent premaxillary spine may indicate that the species possessed a large, fleshy nose. Both features are convergent on other large‐bodied, non‐vombatid extinct megaherbivores of Australia such as Diprotodon optatum . We use the cranial remains to examine the phylogenetic relationships of giant wombats to other vombatids. Phylogenetic analysis using maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference indicates that Phascolomys , Ramsayia and Sedophascolomys form a clade, suggesting a single origin of gigantism within Vombatidae. This origin may be related to the exploitation of poor‐quality foods, and preceded extreme specializations observed in the cranial anatomy of the giant wombats. U‐series and combined U‐series and electron spin resonance (ESR) dating methods were applied to one fossil tooth. Age calculations systematically correlate the fossil remains to Marine Isotope Stage 5, and an age of c. 80 000 years can be proposed for this specimen. With only a single well‐dated occurrence for this taxon, it is currently impossible to determine when and why R. magna became extinct.
Refining the chronology of Acheulean deposits at Porto Maior in the River Miño basin (Galicia, Spain) using a comparative luminescence and ESR dating approach
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2020
A 300–600ka ESR/U-series chronology of Acheulian sites in Western Europe
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2010
The place beyond the trees: renewed excavations of the Middle Stone Age deposits at Olieboomspoort in the Waterberg Mountains of the South African Savanna Biome
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-06-2021
DOI: 10.1007/S12520-021-01302-7
Abstract: Olieboomspoort is one of the few rock shelters in the vast interior of southern Africa documenting pulses of occupation from the Acheulean until the end of the Later Stone Age. Revil Mason excavated the site in 1954 and attributed the large Middle Stone Age (MSA) lithic assemblage to his middle phase of the so-called Pietersburg Industry. Recent work at the site has focused on the Holocene layers, but little is known about the earlier phases of shelter use. Here, we provide some background to the shelter, give a history of past research and present initial results following renewed fieldwork at the site. The MSA deposits contain abundant lithic artefacts and ochre, and we present an initial description of these cultural remains. Palynological analysis reveals limited potential for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, but some faunal remains indicate open grasslands. We dated two equid teeth that provided highly consistent combined U-series-ESR estimates, resulting in a mean age of 150 ± 14 ka (1σ). Even when considering potential sources of uncertainty such as variations in water-intake, these fossils can securely be dated to Marine Isotopic Stage 6. Our reappraisal of site formation processes highlights the fact that the archaeological assemblage is strongly time-averaged. We discuss these different results in the context of a recently rekindled interest in the so-called Pietersburg Industry.
Fluvial response to Quaternary hydroclimate in eastern Africa: Evidence from Gona, Afar, Ethiopia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2023
New chronological constraints for the Late Pleistocene fossil assemblage and associated breccia from Ngalau Sampit, Sumatra
Publisher: Ubiquity Press, Ltd.
Date: 2021
DOI: 10.5334/OQ.96
Testing the potential of K-feldspar pIR-IRSL and quartz ESR for dating coastal alluvial fan complexes in arid environments
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2020
Publisher Correction: First experimental evaluation of the alpha efficiency in coarse-grained quartz for ESR dating purposes: implications for dose rate evaluation
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-03-2020
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-020-62007-W
Abstract: An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
New views on an old move: Hominin migration into Eurasia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2013
ESR chronology of alluvial deposits in the Arlanzón valley (Atapuerca, Spain): Contemporaneity with Atapuerca Gran Dolina site
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2012
Author Correction: Multiple hominin dispersals into Southwest Asia over the past 400,000 years
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-01-2022
The dawn of the Late Villafranchian: Paleoenvironment and age of the Pantalla paleontological site (Italy; Early Pleistocene)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2023
ESR dating of Middle Pleistocene archaeo-paleontological sites from the Manzanares and Jarama river valleys (Madrid basin, Spain)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2019
1.9-million- and 2.4-million-year-old artifacts and stone tool–cutmarked bones from Ain Boucherit, Algeria
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 14-12-2018
Abstract: Evidence for the earliest stone tools produced by human ancestors (from ∼2.6 million years ago) has hitherto come from East Africa. Sahnouni et al. report the discovery of Oldowan stone artifacts and associated cutmarks on fossil bones excavated in Algeria, with the earliest dated to 2.4 million years ago. Thus, hominins inhabited the Mediterranean fringe in North Africa earlier than commonly believed. Furthermore, either stone tool manufacture and use dispersed early from East Africa or stone tool manufacture and use originated in both North and East Africa. Science , this issue p. 1297
Oxygen isotopes in orangutan teeth reveal recent and ancient climate variation
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 19-07-2023
DOI: 10.1101/2023.07.18.549587
Abstract: Studies of climate variation commonly rely on chemical and isotopic changes recorded in sequentially-produced growth layers, such as in corals, shells and tree rings, as well as in accretionary deposits—ice and sediment cores, and speleothems. Oxygen isotopic compositions (δ 18 O) of tooth enamel are a direct method of reconstructing environmental variation experienced by an in idual animal. Here we utilize long-forming orangutan dentitions ( Pongo spp.) to probe recent and ancient rainfall trends on a weekly basis over ∼ 3–11 years per in idual. We first demonstrate the lack of any consistent isotopic enrichment effect during exclusive nursing, supporting the use of primate first molar teeth as environmental proxies. Comparisons of δ 18 O values (n = 2016) in six modern Bornean and Sumatran orangutans reveal a high degree of overlap, with more consistent annual and bimodal rainfall patterns in the Sumatran in iduals. Comparisons with fossil orangutan δ 18 O values (n = 955) reveal similarities between modern and late Pleistocene fossil Sumatran in iduals, but differences between modern and late Pleistocene/early Holocene Bornean orangutans. These suggest drier and more open environments with reduced monsoon intensity during this earlier period in northern Borneo, consistent with other Niah Caves studies and long-term speleothem δ 18 O records in the broader region. This approach can be extended to test hypotheses about the paleoenvironments that early humans encountered in southeast Asia.
Quantifying the impact of µCT‐scanning of human fossil teeth on ESR age results
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-02-2017
DOI: 10.1002/AJPA.23180
Abstract: Fossil human teeth are nowadays systematically CT-scanned by palaeoanthropologists prior to any further analysis. It has been recently demonstrated that this noninvasive technique has, in most cases, virtually no influence on ancient DNA preservation. However, it may have nevertheless an impact on other techniques, like Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) dating, by artificially ageing the apparent age of the s le. To evaluate this impact, we µCT-scanned several modern enamel fragments following the standard analytical procedures employed by the Dental Anthropology Group at CENIEH, Spain, and then performed ESR dose reconstruction for each of them. The results of our experiment demonstrate that the systematic high-resolution µCT-scanning of fossil hominin remains introduces a nonnegligible X-ray dose into the tooth enamel, equivalent to 15-30 Gy depending on the parameters used. This dose may be multiplied by a factor of ∼8 if no metallic filter is used. However, this dose estimate cannot be universally extrapolated to any µCT-scan experiment but has instead to be specifically assessed for each device and set of parameters employed. The impact on the ESR age results is directly dependent on the magnitude of the geological dose measured in fossil enamel but could potentially lead to an age overestimation up to 40% in case of Late Pleistocene s les, if not taken into consideration.
ESR dating of optically-bleached quartz grains: Evaluating measurement repeatability and reproducibility
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2024
ESR and ESR/U-series chronology of the Middle Pleistocene site of Tourville-la-Rivière (Normandy, France) - A multi-laboratory approach
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2020
Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) Dating of Fossil Tooth Enamel
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Date: 2015
First Chronological Constraints for the High Terraces of the Upper Ebro Catchment
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 05-08-2021
DOI: 10.3390/QUAT4030025
Abstract: The Cenozoic sedimentary basins in the Iberian Peninsula show a change from long-term basin infill to incision, a transition that indicates a period of major drainage reorganization that culminated in the throughflow of the networks to the Atlantic and Mediterranean oceans. Both the cause of the transition from aggradation to degradation and the linkages to tectonic, climatic, and geomorphic events hinge on the chronology of the fluvial network incision and excavation of the basin’s sedimentary fills. In this paper, we describe the first chronologic data on the highest fluvial terraces of the upper area of the Ebro River, one of the largest fluvial systems in the Iberian Peninsula, to determine the onset of incision and excavation in the basin. For this purpose, we combine electron spin resonance (ESR) and paleomagnetism methods to date strath terraces found at 140, 90, and 85 m above the current river level. Our results show ages of ca. 1.2 and 1.5 Ma for the uppermost river terraces in the upper Ebro catchment, constraining the minimum age of the entrenchment of the upper Ebro River.
A multidisciplinary overview of the lower Miño River terrace system (NW Iberian Peninsula)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2020
Assessing the uncertainty on particle size and shape: Implications for ESR and OSL dating of quartz and feldspar grains
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2015
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