Citation
Torres Pérez-Hidalgo, Trinidad José
(2010).
Dating of the hominid (Homo neanderthalensis) remains accumulation from El Sidrón cave (Piloña, Asturias, North Spain): an example of multi-methodological approach to the dating of Upper Pleistocene sites.
"Archaeometry", v. 52
(n. 4);
pp. 680-705.
ISSN 0003-813X.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.2009.00491.x.
Abstract
The age of Neanderthal remains and associated sediments from El Sidron cave has been
obtained through different dating methods (14CAMS, U/TH, OSL, ESR and AAR) and samples
(charcoal debris, bone, tooth dentine, stalagmitic flowstone, carbonate-rich sediments, sedimentary
quartz grains, tooth enamel and land snail shells). Detrital Th contamination rendered
Th/U dating analyses of flowstone unreliable. Recent 14C contamination produced
spurious age-values from charcoal samples as well as from inadequately pretreated tooth
samples. Most consistent 14C dates are grouped into two series: one between 35 and 40 ka and
the other between 48 and 49 ka. Most ESR and AAR samples yielded concordant ages, ranging
between 39 and 45 ka; OSL dating results permitted adequate bracketing of the sedimentary
layer that contained the human remains. Our results emphasize the value of multi-dating
approaches for the establishment of reliable chronologies of human remains
