Dating of fossil human teeth and shells from Toca do Enoque site at Serra das Confusões National Park, Brazil

Abstract

This work reports the dating of a fossil human tooth and shell found at the archaeological site Toca do Enoque located in Serra das Confusões National Park (Piauí, Brazil). Many prehistoric paintings have been found at this site. An archaeological excavation unearthed three sepulchers with human skeletons and some shells. Two Brazilian laboratories, in Ribeirão Preto (USP) and Recife (UFPE), independently performed Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) measurements to date the tooth and the shell and obtain the equivalent dose received by each sample. The laboratories determined similar ages for the tooth and the shell (~4.8 kyBP). The results agreed with C-14 dating of the shell and other samples (charcoal) collected in the same sepulcher. Therefore, this work provides a valid inter-comparison of results by two independent ESRdating laboratories and between two dating methods; i.e., C-14 and ESR, showing the validity of ESR dating for this range of ages.

Las termitas como agentes aturales de alteraciones tafonómicas postdepositacionales en un esqueleto humano del sitio arqueológico Toca do Enoque (Piauí, Brasil)

“…El sitio Toca do Enoque (Faure, Guérin y Luz, 2011;Guidon y Luz, 2009;Kinoshita et al, 2016;Luz, 2014) es un abrigo rocoso localizado en la Serra das Andorinhas en el Parque Nacional Serra das Confusões, sudoeste del estado de Piauí, en las coordenadas 43°55'625'' longitud O y 9°14'653'' latitud S (Fig. 1).…”

“…Cronológicamente, el uso funerario del sitio fue estimado a través de las dataciones indirectas sobre carbones asociados que dieron una antigüedad de 5930±50 años AP (BETA-252374) para el Entierro 1; entre 6220±50 a 6610±40 años AP (BETA-257093 y BETA-257092) para el Entierro 2; y 3430±40 años AP (BETA-252607) para el Entierro 3 (Faure et al, 2011;Guidon y Luz, 2009;Kinoshita et al, 2016;Luz, 2014). La ausencia de colágeno en huesos humanos y animales del sitio han imposibilitado conseguir dataciones directas.…”

“…La ausencia de colágeno en huesos humanos y animales del sitio han imposibilitado conseguir dataciones directas. Una descripción detallada de las excavaciones de los tres entierros, las primeras interpretaciones, los estudios sobre sus acompañamientos funerarios, o sobre la datación de sus materiales se pueden consultar en los trabajos de Faure et al (2011), Guidon y Luz (2009), Kinoshita et al (2016) y en la tesis de doctorado de Fátima Luz (Luz, 2014).…”

Scientists and journalists, Glyptodontidae, and new dating of archaeological material from northeastern Brazil

“…Located in the Serra das Confusões National Park in the Piauí State, this site has furnished some very interesting paintings, along with skeletons and shells (Faure et al 2011). In their contribution, Kinoshita et al (2016) compare two distinct methodologies that were independently applied to human teeth and shell fragments. The results were quite similar, indicating that the main deposit of the Toca do Enoque was formed around 4.800 years before present time.…”

“…Such studies are stimulating since they can help us to get a clearer picture about human occupation in the Americas, a subject that has sparkled contemptuous debates (e.g., Araujo 2015). Comparing distinct dating techniques as done by Kinoshita et al (2016), provides a more reliable framework regarding dating of archaeological sites than others that mainly rely on classifi cations of artifacts, which can be controversial (e.g., Okumura and Araujo 2015).…”