Radiometric dates for the Middle Palaeolithic sequence of Payre (Ardèche, France)

Hélène Valladas (1, 2) , N. Mercier (1) , L.K Ayliffe (3) , Christophe Falguères (4) , Jean-Jacques Bahain (4) , J.-M. Dolo (5) , L. Froget (1) , J.-L. Joron (6) , H. Masaoudi (4) , J.-L. Reyss (1, 7) , Marie-Hélène Moncel (4)

1 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
2 GEOTRAC - Géochrononologie Traceurs Archéométrie
3 RSES - Research School of Earth Science [Canberra]
4 HNHP - Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique
5 LNHB (CEA, LIST) - Laboratoire National Henri Becquerel (CEA, LIST)
6 LPS - Laboratoire Pierre Süe
7 OCEANIS - Océan et Interfaces

The archaeological site of Payre (France) yielded Middle Palaeolithic layers with Neanderthal remains, which are partly bracketed by two stalagmitic flowstones. To obtain a precise chronological framework for the human occupation and the faunal remains of this site, several dating methods were used: uranium-series (U-series by alpha spectrometry and TIMS) and electron spin resonance (ESR) on stalagmitic flowstones, combined ESR/U-series on teeth and bones, and thermoluminescence (TL) on burnt flints. Most of the ages obtained for levels H to C range from 300 to 140 ka. The age-spread obtained for the anthropic (burnt flints) and faunal remains (bones and teeth) suggests that the dated levels represent several human occupation periods, near the transition from MIS8 to MIS7 (levels G–F) and from MIS6 to MIS5 (levels D–E).

Mots clés: ESR dating; U-series; Middle Palaeolithic; Payre; Neanderthal; Luminescence

Domaines: Archéologie et Préhistoire

Hélène Valladas, N. Mercier, L.K Ayliffe, Christophe Falguères, Jean-Jacques Bahain, et al.. Radiometric dates for the Middle Palaeolithic sequence of Payre (Ardèche, France). Quaternary Geochronology, 2008, 3, pp.377-389. ⟨10.1016/j.quageo.2008.01.001⟩. ⟨halshs-00347697⟩