Age of the earliest Paleolithic sites in the northern part of the Armenian Highland by SHRIMP-II U–Pb geochronology of zircons from volcanic ashes

Petrogenesis of mafic collision zone magmatism: The Armenian sector of the Turkish–Iranian Plateau

“…Felsic volcanic ashes related to the Ridge Series of the Javakheti Ridge in Shirak Province (Fig. 2c) have zircon U-Pb ion probe ages of 1.94-1.75 Ma (Presnyakov et al, 2012). The Ridge Series overlies, and is genetically related to the mafic samples of the Valley Series from Shirak and Lori (Fig.…”

Carbonate features in the uppermost layers of Quaternary deposits, Northern Armenia, and their significance for paleoenvironmental reconstruction

“…2A). The thickness of the Pleistocene deposits underlain by doleritic basalt in this quarry reaches 15 m. Three UePb dates of the zircons from volcanic ash lying below pumice sands under the Kurtan I sediment section were 1.432 ± 0.028 Ma, 1.495 ± 0.026 Ma and 1.496 ± 0.021 Ma (Presnyakov et al, 2012). According to those dates, paleomagnetic records and general geological correlations in the region (Trifonov et al, 2014), cultural layers 1e3 with the Acheulian lithic industry of this site date between the second half of the Early Pleistocene (1.8e0.781 Ma) and the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene (!0.5 Ma).…”

“…One of the main routes of their migration from the African homeland to Eurasia led through the Near East to the Caucasus isthmus. Recent archaeological research in the Lori Depression of Armenia (Lesser Caucasus) revealed a series of multilevel Early Paleolithic (Acheulian) sites belonging to the Early-Middle Pleistocene stage of occupation (Aslanyan et al, 2007;Belyaeva, 2010, 2011;Presnyakov et al, 2012;Belyaeva and Lyubin, 2013). These sites are represented by stratified deposits having different palaeosol characteristics.…”

The Past of Humankind as seen by the Petersburg Archaeologists at the Dawn of the Millenium (to the Centennial of the Russian Academic Archaeology)

“…Датировка этого пепла уран-свинцовым методом (SIMS U-Pb) показала возраст 1,432±0,028 млн л. н. (Presnyakov et al, 2012). Нижнюю часть разреза образует Рис.…”

“…Для верхнего горизонта пемзовых песков имеется SIMS U-Pb даты 1,495±0,026 и 1,496±0,021 млн л. н. (Presnyakov et al, 2012), также 39 Ar/ 40 Ar дата 1,49±0,01 млн л. н. (S. Hynek, pers.…”