Dating the Neanderthal environment: Detailed luminescence chronology of a palaeochannel sediment core at the Palaeolithic site of Lichtenberg in the Lower Saxony, northern Germany
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in: Quaternary Geochronology, Jahrgang 83, 101564, 01.08.2024.
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Dating the Neanderthal environment
T2 - Detailed luminescence chronology of a palaeochannel sediment core at the Palaeolithic site of Lichtenberg in the Lower Saxony, northern Germany
AU - Rahimzadeh, Neda
AU - Hein, Michael
AU - Urban, Brigitte
AU - Weiss, Marcel
AU - Tanner, David Colin
AU - Khosravichenar, Azra
AU - Tsukamoto, Sumiko
AU - Lauer, Tobias
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authors
PY - 2024/8/1
Y1 - 2024/8/1
N2 - Northern Germany is famous for its numerous Neanderthal (Middle Palaeolithic) archaeological sites and well-preserved palaeoclimate records. Nevertheless, our understanding of how hominins responded to climate fluctuations and adapted to changing environments in this region remains limited because there are only a few reliable, highly-resolved chronological frameworks of long stratigraphic successions. Most of the Middle Palaeolithic sites in this region lack a reliable chronostratigraphy beyond the radiocarbon dating range. In this study, we present a high-resolution optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) chronology derived from a ∼21 m long sediment core (Li-BPa) that was drilled in close proximity to the known Neanderthal site of Lichtenberg. Quartz OSL dating was applied to the upper 6.5 m of the core. Subsequently, the obtained quartz OSL ages were compared with feldspar post-infrared (IR) IRSL (pIRIR) measured at 290 °C (pIRIR290), pulsed IR50 (pre-pIRIR225), and pulsed pIRIR225 ages to select a suitable feldspar signal to date older samples. A comparison of the quartz and feldspar ages indicates that only fading-corrected pulsed IR50 (pre-pIRIR225) and pIRIR225 ages agree well with quartz OSL ages. Finally, the age framework of the sediment sequence was established based on the 11 quartz OSL ages and 23 fading-corrected pulsed IR50 (pre-pIRIR225) and pulsed pIRIR225 ages. The resulting Bacon age-depth model agrees with litho- and biostratigraphic designations, indicating that the whole sequence was deposited between ca. 275 ka and ca. 24 ka, corresponding to the Saalian to Weichselian periods.
AB - Northern Germany is famous for its numerous Neanderthal (Middle Palaeolithic) archaeological sites and well-preserved palaeoclimate records. Nevertheless, our understanding of how hominins responded to climate fluctuations and adapted to changing environments in this region remains limited because there are only a few reliable, highly-resolved chronological frameworks of long stratigraphic successions. Most of the Middle Palaeolithic sites in this region lack a reliable chronostratigraphy beyond the radiocarbon dating range. In this study, we present a high-resolution optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) chronology derived from a ∼21 m long sediment core (Li-BPa) that was drilled in close proximity to the known Neanderthal site of Lichtenberg. Quartz OSL dating was applied to the upper 6.5 m of the core. Subsequently, the obtained quartz OSL ages were compared with feldspar post-infrared (IR) IRSL (pIRIR) measured at 290 °C (pIRIR290), pulsed IR50 (pre-pIRIR225), and pulsed pIRIR225 ages to select a suitable feldspar signal to date older samples. A comparison of the quartz and feldspar ages indicates that only fading-corrected pulsed IR50 (pre-pIRIR225) and pIRIR225 ages agree well with quartz OSL ages. Finally, the age framework of the sediment sequence was established based on the 11 quartz OSL ages and 23 fading-corrected pulsed IR50 (pre-pIRIR225) and pulsed pIRIR225 ages. The resulting Bacon age-depth model agrees with litho- and biostratigraphic designations, indicating that the whole sequence was deposited between ca. 275 ka and ca. 24 ka, corresponding to the Saalian to Weichselian periods.
KW - Luminescence dating
KW - Middle Palaeolithic
KW - Neanderthal
KW - Northern Central Europe
KW - Pulsed IRSL
KW - Biology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85197516306&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.quageo.2024.101564
DO - 10.1016/j.quageo.2024.101564
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:85197516306
VL - 83
JO - Quaternary Geochronology
JF - Quaternary Geochronology
SN - 1871-1014
M1 - 101564
ER -