title: ESR dating at Mezmaiskaya Cave, Russia.
abstract: Mezmaiskaya Cave has yielded more than 10,000 artifacts, thousands of very well preserved faunal remains, and hominin remains, found in seven Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian) and three Upper Paleolithic levels. A complete Neanderthal infant skeleton was preserved in anatomical juxtaposition lying on a large limestone block, overlain by the earliest Mousterian layer, Layer 3. Twenty-four skull fragments from a 1-2 year-old Neanderthal infant, showing post-mortem deformation, occurred in a pit originating in the Mousterian Layer 2 and penetrating into underlying layers 2A and 2B(1). Bone from Layer 2A was dated by AMS 14C at 35.8-36.3+/-0.5 kyr BP. Direct dating of Neanderthal bone from Layer 3 gave an age of 29 kyr, but that is now considered to be due to contamination by modern carbon. Fourteen large mammal teeth from Layers 2 through 3 have been dated by standard electron spin resonance (ESR). Low U concentrations in both the enamel and dentine ensure that ESR ages do not depend significantly on the U uptake model, but do depend strongly on the sedimentary dose rates. Assuming a sedimentary water concentration equal to 20 wt%, ESR ages for the Mousterian layers range from 36.2 to 73.0+/-5.0 ka.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267, USA. anne.r.skinner@williams.edu
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Skinner
authors.forename: B A B
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Blackwell
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.forename: J I B
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Blickstein
authors.forename: L V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Golovanova
authors.forename: V B
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Doronichev
mesh_terms: D000365:Age Determination by Skeleton / Q000379:methods; D000366:Age Determination by Teeth / Q000379:methods; D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D003743:Dental Enamel / Q000737:chemistry; D003804:Dentin / Q000737:chemistry; D004578:Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005580:Fossils; D015186:Hominidae; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D010163:Paleontology / Q000379:methods*; D012426:Russia; D012863:Skeleton; D012886:Skull / Q000737:chemistry