ESR dating of Pleistocene archaeological localities of the Nihewan Basin, North China – Preliminary results

Chun-Ru Liu , Gong-Ming Yin , Lu Gao , Jean-Jacques Bahain (1) , Jian-Ping Li , Min Lin , Shi-Ming Chen

1 HNHP - Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique

The well-developed, late Cenozoic Nihewan Beds in northern China are amongst the most famous and well-preserved Quaternary strata in East Asia. The Nihewan Basin is also well-known for its mammalian fossils and stone artifacts, which document early human settlements in high northern latitudes (around 40°N). It is a key geological place to study palaeoenvironments and ancient human activities due to the excellent age-control of the formation by palaeomagnetism. In the present paper, the sediments of two Paleolithic sites were dated using the ESR signals of the titanium center in quartz. In order to check the reliability of our analytical procedures, a reference sample collected near the Brunhes/Matuyama (B/M) boundary at the Donggutuo site was firstly analyzed, yielding an age of 750 ± 88 ka. Then, three samples collected from the Dongpo site were analyzed by the same procedures. Our ESR results indicate that the age of the Dongpo cultural layer ranges between 304 ± 12 ka and 333 ± 23 ka, with an average of approximately 321 ± 15 ka.

Domaines: Archéologie et Préhistoire

Chun-Ru Liu, Gong-Ming Yin, Lu Gao, Jean-Jacques Bahain, Jian-Ping Li, et al.. ESR dating of Pleistocene archaeological localities of the Nihewan Basin, North China – Preliminary results. Quaternary Geochronology, 2010, 5 (2-3), pp.385-390. ⟨10.1016/j.quageo.2009.05.006⟩. ⟨hal-03226880⟩