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Systematic field investigations and excavations documented hundreds of open-air Paleolithic localities in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the abundant stone artifacts recovered from these sites provides critical materials to explore lithic technologies and hominins adaptive behaviors in south China. However, the age of early human occupation remained largely unknown, and the adaptive strategy of early human is still ambiguous as lacking of reliably chronological framework. In this work, multiple luminescence dating techniques, including the quartz SAR-OSL, TT-OSL and K-feldspar pIRIR (pIR50IR225 and pIR200IR290) procedures were applied to date three Paleolithic localities in Chaohu Lake Region (CLR), where more than three hundreds of stone artifacts include large cutting tools (such as handaxes) has been found, implying a key area which bears Mode 2 technocomplex present in southeast China. The quartz SAR-OSL and K-feldspar pIRIR ages are in good agreement with each other, whereas the quartz TT-OSL shows obvious systematic overestimation. Based on our resultant luminescence ages, the three study sites range from 30 ka to >200 ka. Of which, the main cultural layer of Paleolithic localities which contained the knives and handaxes dates back from 78 to >200 ka, representing the pre-existing Middle Pleistocene Large Cutting Tool (LCT) techno-complex. While in contrast, abundant small flakes and flake tool productions dated from the 70 to 30 ka, indicating the local small flaking system became prominent and continued to develop, which similar to those found in south China. Our findings thus offer a potential approach to understanding the early human dispersals and adapted strategies in south China during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lower Saxony in northern Germany is famous for its rich record of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic sites and palaeoclimate archives of the last 300 ka that record the advance- and retreat of Pleistocene glaciers, as well as periglacial and interglacial conditions. Numerous high-resolution palaeoenvironmental archives and associated Palaeolithic assemblages have been found in this region (e.g., Schöningen, Lehringen, Einhornhöle, Lichtenberg), and therefore offer a means to understand the behaviour of Early humans in relation to climate shifts and their adaptations to changing environments. Establishing a precise and reliable chronostratigraphic framework of Neanderthal occupation, their extinction, and replacement by early modern human is a fundamental research desideratum that can be achieved by applying numerical dating methods. This study aims to establish a robust luminescence chronology at the late Middle Palaeolithic openair site of Lichtenberg, northern Germany. Lichtenberg is one of the northernmost Neanderthal occupations on the European Plain, where different levels of Neanderthal occupation are preserved in deposits of the Eemian and Early Weichselian, with temperate, cold and moderately cold climatic conditions [1]. A total of thirty-nine samples were collected from a twenty-metre sediment core that was drilled adjacent to the site and spans the last interglacial-glacial cycle. We present and compare luminescence data and ages derived from feldspar using different signals (e.g., post-IR IRSL and pulsed IRSL). Where possible, the fast component quartz OSL ages are also determined as additional supporting chronological data to assess the accuracy of feldspar dating. Comparison of these dating results enables to assess potential methodological biases, while the resulting chronologies help refine the chronostratigraphic constraints of this Middle- Palaeolithic site and establish a high-resolution chronological model for the sediment core. The latter intends to yield more detailed insights into the timing of palaeoclimatic shifts in northern central Europe during the last glacial-interglacial cycle. Our preliminary measurements show that the fading uncorrected pIRIR290 ages spanning ~25-180 ka, with a relatively steady age increase beyond ~110 ka below sevenmetre. The dating results will provide a high-resolution age-depth model for multi-proxy analyses, such as XRF, pollen, and granulometric data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Levant is a hotspot for studying past human behaviour and evolution during the Pleistocene. In particular, Tabun Cave, located in Mount Carmel, Israel, is one of the most famous sites in the area, with an exceptional sequence that spans the late Lower and Middle Palaeolithic. Human remains were found in the Middle Palaeolithic layers, including a Neanderthal skeleton (C1), and a mandible (C2), commonly classified as Homo sapiens, but whose attribution is still debated. Electron spin resonance (ESR) of tooth enamel (e.g., [1, 2]) and thermoluminescence (TL) of burnt flint (e.g., [3, 4]) have been applied in the past to date the sequence of industries that became a reference for the Palaeolithic of the Levant, but the sedimentary matrix has never been dated. However, it has been shown that dose rate variation due to diagenesis in cave sites may impact the dose rate [5], making difficult to date such context. The characterisation of the mineral composition of the sediment will thus provide useful insights to select the best-preserved samples for luminescence dating [6]. We present here the first dates obtained using infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) of polymineral fine grains with the pIRIR290 protocol, interpreted in combination with the data obtained from the characterisation of the sediment, i.e. the mineral composition determined using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Our new age results are in agreement with previous TL dating and indicate that the sediments from Unit X of the Lower to Middle Paleolithic transition, Units II-IX of the early Middle Paleolithic, and Unit I of the middle Middle Paleolithic were deposited between 280 ± 33 ka (Unit X, where the Levallois technology is first documented in the sequence) and 146 ± 11 ka (Unit I). Evidence of authigenic minerals such as phosphates were observed using FTIR, and their implications regarding dose rate variation are discussed here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central Asia is a key migratory route for the peopling of Asia during the Palaeolithic. Unfortunately, chronological information is limited, leaving a geographical and temporal gap in our knowledge of human migrations. One of the aims of the transdisciplinary project THOCA ("Timing and Ecology of the Human Occupation in Central Asia") is to determine the chronology of the first settlements in Central Asia over time through the study of three major archaeological sites (Khonako, Obi Mazar and Kuldara) located in the Khovaling Loess Plateau of Tajikistan [1]. Luminescence dating is being used to date the upper part of the sections, providing a chronological framework for palaeoenvironmental, palaeoecological, and palaeoclimatic studies over the past ~250 ka. Here we present the first detailed luminescence chronology of the Khonako sites. These sections consist of an alternation of thick loess units and up to 16 well-developed pedocomplexes (PC), providing a sedimentary record presumably back to MIS 31. Lithic assemblages excavated in the upper PC 1 and PC 2 are among the best representatives of the regional Middle Palaeolithic industries. About 320 samples were taken to establish a chronological model down to at least PC 2. Because of the high dose rates (~ 3 Gy/ka), the OSL signal from quartz can only be used to date the last ~30 ka, and so only the upper part of the section (~ top of L1). Quartz OSL and feldspar pIRIR200,290 ages are compared to evaluate the completeness of bleaching of the pIRIR200,290 signal and evaluate the size of the presumed residual dose that was present at deposition. First IR stimulation temperature tests are used to confirm the suitability of our pIRIR protocol. Because of the fine-grained nature of the sediment, only very small amounts of 63-90 µm K-rich feldspar grains could be extracted. Therefore, measurements using a pIRIR200,290 protocol were also carried out on the polymineral 63-90 µm fractions (i.e. no HF treatment or heavy liquid separation). All these measurements were made using a test dose approximately equal to the measured De. Dose recovery ratios (of between 0.91 ± 0.09 and 1.07 ± 0.02) are satisfactory for 6 samples ranging from ~ 20 ka (given dose of ~ 90 Gy) to ~ 250 ka (given dose of ~ 770 Gy) after the subtraction of residual doses (from 16 Gy to 54 Gy). Our preliminary test results also show that the polymineral 63-90 µm fraction yields the same De values as purified K-rich feldspar extracts. The new chronology for the Khonako sites confirms that PC 2 and PC 1 can be associated with MIS 7 and 5, respectively. The sedimentary record appears to be almost continuous through the last 250 ka, although there may be a hiatus in sedimentation at the bottom of PC 1 (end of MIS 6/beginning MIS 5). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Middle Palaeolithic site of Mutzig, discovered in 1992, has been the focus of several pits and excavations since 2010, delivering numerous well preserved palaeontological remains and more than 4500 lithic artifacts. The site is made by several rock shelters now collapsed (called "M1" to "M12"), each of them containing several Middle Palaeolithic occupation levels. The faunal assemblage of the main archaeological levels (7a to 7f) from the current excavation (M2) includes woolly mammoth, reindeer, horse, bison and woolly rhinoceros, reflecting a cold steppe context, while microfauna from the lower levels (7D and 10) indicate the presence of forests and suggest a more temperate climate. An OSL dating study places the archaeological sequence as coeval of the onset of the last glacial stage, the Weichselian, during MIS 5, between 105 and 80 ka. The good state of preservation of the abundant faunal remains at Mutzig provided good supports for ESR and U-series dating method. The first results obtained by U-series in 1995 on bones were not encouraging. A first set of teeth (from "M2" site), considered today as more appropriate dating material was therefore analyzed by combined ESR/U-series, using alpha spectrometry in 2013-2015, and yielded ages around 96-100 ka for levels 5-7, in agreement with the OSL data [1]. These analyses showed a quite systematic U-leaching from the dental tissues and the ages were calculated by the "Accelerated Uptake (AU) model" [2]. A second set of teeth from "M2" and "M8" sites was recently analyzed by combined ESR with U-series using quadripolar mass spectrometry (ICP-Q-MS) in MNHN laboratory. The whole set of ESR/U-series data obtained on Mutzig teeth is presented and discussed versus OSL dates allowing a better resolution of the chronology of the site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]