Journal
JOURNAL OF PALEOLITHIC ARCHAEOLOGY
Volume 3, Issue 4, Pages 816-855Publisher
SPRINGERNATURE
DOI: 10.1007/s41982-020-00062-5
Keywords
Spain; Late Early Pleistocene; Palaeolithic; ESR-Useries dating; Palaeontology
Categories
Funding
- Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities [PGC2018-093925-B-C31]
- Australian Research Council Future Fellowship [FT150100215]
- Spanish Ramon y Cajal Fellowship [RYC2018-025221-I]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Systematic excavation and multidisciplinary research undertaken over three decades have deepened our understanding of the early Palaeolithic archaeology at Cueva Negra del Estrecho del Rio Quipar (Caravaca de la Cruz, Murcia, Spain). New results from biochronology and combined ESR and U-series dating corroborate previous magnetostratigraphy, placing the entire excavated sequence between the Jaramillo sub-chron and the Matuyama-Brunhes boundary (i.e. ca. 990-772 thousand years ago (ka)); palaeontological and palynological findings reflect temperate environmental conditions. A bifacially flaked limestone hand axe was excavated 1 m below the top of the Pleistocene sequence. TheEquuscf.altidenstooth that provided the ESR estimate was excavated 1 m below the hand axe. Throughout its 5-m-deep sedimentary sequence, small nodules, fragments and struck flakes make up the bulk of the Palaeolithic assemblage. Stratigraphical analysis points to undisturbed continuous sedimentary deposition above a layer of ashy sediment, encountered 4.5 m below the top of the Pleistocene sequence, which contained thermally altered bone and heat-shattered chert cores and flakes. Cueva Negra is among the earliest European sites with firm evidence of combustion.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available