title: The chronostratigraphy of the Haua Fteah cave (Cyrenaica, northeast Libya) - Optical dating of early human occupation during Marine Isotope Stages 4, 5 and 6.
abstract: The paper presents the results of optical dating of potassium-rich feldspar grains obtained from the Haua Fteah cave in Cyrenaica, northeast Libya, focussing on the chronology of the Deep Sounding excavated by Charles McBurney in the 1950s and re-excavated recently. Samples were also collected from a 1.25 m-deep trench (Trench S) excavated during the present project below the basal level of the Deep Sounding. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) data sets for multi-grain, single aliquots of quartz for samples from the Middle Trench were previously published. Re-analyses of these OSL data confirm significant variation in the dose saturation levels of the quartz signal, but allow the most robust OSL ages to be determined for comparison with previous age estimates and with those obtained in this study for potassium-rich feldspars from the Deep Sounding. The latter indicate that humans may have started to visit the cave as early as ∼150 ka ago, but that major use of the cave occurred during MIS 5, with the accumulation of the Deep Sounding sediments. Correlations between optical ages and episodes of "Pre-Aurignacian" artefact discard indicate that human use of the cave during MIS 5 was highly intermittent. The earliest phases of human activity appear to have occurred during interstadial conditions (5e and 5c), with a later phase of lithic discard associated with more stadial conditions, possibly MIS 5b. We argue that the "Pre-Aurignacian" assemblage can probably be linked with modern humans, like the succeeding "Levalloiso-Mousterian" assemblage; two modern human mandibles associated with the latter are associated with a modelled age of 73-65 ka. If this attribution is correct, then the new chronology implies that modern humans using "Pre-Aurignacian" technologies were in Cyrenaica as early as modern humans equipped with "Aterian" technologies were in the Maghreb, raising new questions about variability among lithic technologies during the initial phases of modern human dispersals into North Africa.
authors.affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage & Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia. Electronic address: zenobia@uow.edu.au.
authors.forename: Zenobia
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage & Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK.
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Farr
authors.affiliation: School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queens University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK.
authors.forename: Evan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.affiliation: School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3LH, UK.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.affiliation: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK.
authors.forename: Sacha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queens University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK.
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rabett
authors.affiliation: Department of History, Classics and Archaeology, Birkbeck College, University of London, London WC1B 5DQ, UK.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage & Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia.
authors.forename: Richard G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queens University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Simpson
authors.affiliation: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK.
authors.forename: Graeme
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Barker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D059552:Caves; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis*; D015186:Hominidae; D006801:Humans; D008002:Libya; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D055110:Radiometric Dating
keywords: MET-pIRIR; Middle Stone Age; Modern humans; North Africa; OSL