Datación por <i>ESR</i> del yacimiento arqueológico del Pleistoceno inferior de Vallparadís (Terrassa, Cataluña, España)

Abstract

Excavated between 2005 and 2007, the site of Vallparadís (Terrassa, Spain) has given an abundant and diversified fauna associated with a rich Mode 1 industry. In order to complete the chronostratigraphic framework, we performed ESR and combined US-ESR dating applied to quartz grains extracted from sediments and fossil teeth, respectively. The results obtained are very significant, giving a weighted mean ESR age of 0.83 ± 0.13 Ma (2σ) for the reference archaeological level of the site (level 10) and another of 0.79 ± 0.23 Ma (2σ) for the archaeological level 12 of the Vallparadís sequence. These ESR results are in total agreement with the ones derived from biochronology and paleomagnetism. This whole dataset allows the elaboration of a reliable and consistent chronostratigraphic framework which chronologically places Vallparadís site in the late Early Pleistocene period, i.e. within a time range comprised between Jaramillo and Brunhes geomagnetic events. Consequently, as well as Gran Dolina-TD6 and Sima del Elefante- TE9 sites, in Atapuerca, Burgos, Vallparadís can be therefore considered as a key site for the study of early hominid settlements in Europe.<br><br>Excavado entre 2005 y 2007, el yacimiento de Vallparadís (Terrassa, España) ha aportado una fauna rica y diversa en asociación con un importante conjunto lítico de Modo 1. Con el objetivo de completar el marco cronoestratigráfico, se hicieron dataciones por los métodos de Resonancia Paramagnética Electrónica (<i>Electron Spin Resonance, ESR</i>) y <i>ESR</i> combinada con uranio-torio sobre algunas muestras de granos de cuarzo extraídos de sedimentos y dientes fósiles, respectivamente. Los resultados obtenidos son muy significativos, ofreciendo edades <i>ESR</i> promedias de 0,83 ± 0,13 Ma (2σ) para el nivel arqueológico de referencia del yacimiento (nivel 10) y de 0,79 ± 0,23 Ma (2σ) para el nivel arqueológico 12 de la secuencia de Vallparadís. Dichos resultados por <i>ESR</i> concuerdan con los obtenidos a partir de la biocronología y del paleomagnetismo. El yacimiento de Vallparadís dispone ahora de un marco cronoestratigráfico fiable y coherente, que permite situarlo cronológicamente a finales del Pleistoceno inferior, dentro de un rango temporal comprendido entre los eventos geomagnéticos de Jaramillo y Brunhes. Dicho yacimiento junto a los de Gran Dolina TD-6 y Sima del Elefante TE-9, en Atapuerca, Burgos, se posiciona como un yacimiento clave para el estudio de los primeros poblamientos humanos de Europa

Defending the early human occupation of Vallparadís (Barcelona, Iberian Peninsula): A reply to

“…In their article, they question the human occupation of Vallparadís during the Early Pleistocene. As we have shown in previous papers Duval et al, 2011;Garcia et al, 2011a, b): 1) a lithic set attributed to the Mode 1 has been found at the site; 2) associated with this set are bone remains with cutmarks and anthropogenic fractures; 3) the vertical distribution of the fossil record at EVT7 (levels 10 and 10c) presents three differentiated accumulations of material, which suggests there could have been several episodes of sedimentation and which, along with the identification of four direct lithic refittings, may indicate that part of the record was in primary position; 4) the presence of lithic industry at different levels throughout the stratigraphic sequence suggests continued human occupation; and 5) the radiometric (ESR-U/Series) and paleomagnetic datings, and the biochronological data place the sequence and the different levels with lithic industry at between 1.07 (lower limit of the Jaramillo subchron) and 0.6 Ma Martínez et al, 2010;Duval et al, 2011) (Fig. 1).…”

ESR dose response of Al center measured in quartz samples from the Yellow River (China): Implications for the dating of Upper Pleistocene sediment

“…4), as it had already been noted for Middle Pleistocene samples by Duval (2012). This phenomenon has been described for other dated materials such as tooth enamel , and the use of another function corresponding to the sum of a SSE function and a linear term (E+L) was proposed for teeth then for quartz (Duval et al, 2011;Moreno, 2011;Cordier et al, 2012 andDuval, 2012), considering that the global ESR signal is the result of the presence of two components in the Al signal:…”

“…Ages calculated using this new equation have been recently published for quartz of Lower Pleistocene and Middle Pleistocene ages (Duval et al 2011;Moreno, 2011;Cordier et al, 2012;Duval, 2012). The use of this equation has brought better accuracy for these ages and their use to date more recent sediments seems possible.…”

“…The single saturating exponential function initially used to describe the growth curves of Al center ESR intensities vs. increasing radiation doses (Yokoyama et al, 1985) failed in the case of recent deposits. The use of this equation was recently discussed, mainly for Early and Middle Pleistocene samples (Duval et al, 2011;Moreno, 2011;Cordier et al, 2012;Duval, 2012), and the use of more complex function was proposed but never applied to date Upper Pleistocene deposits.…”

The latest European painted dog

“…1B). Radiometric dating yielded an estimated age of 0.83 ± 0.07 Ma (Duval et al, 2011). Twenty-eight fossil mammal taxa were identified from layer EVT7, and show a predominance of typically Late Villafranchian species coupled with several new immigrants typically recorded from European Galerian associations (Madurell-Malapeira et al, 2010; Referred Specimens-EVT22049, partial right hemimandible with p3, m1, and m2 ( Fig.…”