ESR/U-series dates on Equus teeth from the Middle Pleistocene Acheulean site of Cueva del Angel, Spain

C. Falguères (1) , B Ghaleb (2) , O. Tombret (3) , E Ben Arous (1) , Maïlys Richard (1, 4) , A. M. Moigne (1) , T. Saos (1) , M Frouin (5) , M Caparros (1) , C Barroso-Ruiz

1 HNHP - Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique
2 GEOTOP - Centre de recherche sur la dynamique du système Terre
3 AASPE - Archéozoologie, archéobotanique : sociétés, pratiques et environnements
4 IRAMAT-CRP2A - IRAMAT-Centre de recherche en physique appliquée à l’archéologie
5 University of Oxford

The Cueva del Angel (Lucena, Spain) is an open-air archaeological site with a sedimentary sequence remnant of a collapsed rock shelter which was part of a still active karst complex. The lithic assemblage consists essentially of abundant retouched tools including 46 identified handaxes along with non-modified flakes, and is associated with faunal remains dominated by Equus ferus and other large bovids and cervids. A large proportion of bones has undergone intense anthropic actions and been subjected to intense fire, thus evidencing sustained use of animal meat resources by humans. In order to better ascertain the chronological framework of the site, we dated several proxies. Various speleothem samples were processed by U-series using a coupled induced plasma mass spectrometer (ICPMS-MC). The resulting isotopic ratios are beyond the secular equilibrium and show that these samples do not appear to be in direct stratigraphic relation with the archaeological sequence. Nine Equus teeth were analysed by the combined ESR/U-series method. These samples were taken from Unit I to Unit XVI representing at least 2.5 meters of stratigraphic depth and approximately 90 % of the infilling. Many of the dated samples are burnt given that more than 85 % of the faunal remains exhibit traces of fire exposure.

Mots clés: Middle Pleistocene; Combined ESR/U-series; Cueva del Angel; Acheulean; Spain

Domaines: Archéologie et Préhistoire

C. Falguères, B Ghaleb, O. Tombret, E Ben Arous, Maïlys Richard, et al.. ESR/U-series dates on Equus teeth from the Middle Pleistocene Acheulean site of Cueva del Angel, Spain. Quaternary Geochronology, 2019, 49, pp.297-302. ⟨10.1016/j.quageo.2018.02.003⟩. ⟨hal-02376440⟩