ELECTRON SPIN RESONANCE (ESR) DATING OF MAMMALIAN TOOTH ENAMEL AT PANXIAN DADONG, GUIZHOU PROVINCE, CHINA

Panxian Dadong, Guizhou Province, Southwest China is a cave within an elaborate multi-genesis karst system that contains several stacked caves. Archaeological excavations and multi-disciplinary studies have been in progress at Panxian Dadong from 1993 until the present. Copious amounts of fauna attributed to the Ailuropoda-Stegadon faunal assemblage have been excavated along with lithics and human teeth from the deeply stratified deposit. This particular faunal assemblage has been used at several archaeological sites within southern China as a biostratigraphic age (relative), associated with the Middle Pleistocene. Fifteen mammalian fossil teeth were collected during the 1998-2000 excavations, which were conducted far from the mouth of the cave and the enamel has been dated by electron spin resonance (ESR) dating methods. The EU and LU ESR model ages range from 120 to 300 ka from a total of 16 samples. The ESR model ages correlate well with the suggested time range based on the fauna assemblage (Middle Pleistocene)and the ages have been compared to magnetostratigraphic susceptibility (MS) measurements taken from the cave sediment. These measurements are used as a proxy for palaeoclimate fluctuations experienced at Panxian Dadong. The magnetic susceptibility measurements indicate a trend from warm/wet to cool/dry conditions in the lower excavated units and this agrees well with the palaeoclimate conditions associated with the Ailuropoda-Stegadon faunal assemblage. Uranium-series dates are forthcoming and will constrain an appropriate ESR model age (EU or LU). The ESR ages for Panxian Dadong provide the oldest dated human occupation in Guizhou Province if the LU model ages prove to be the correct ages based on U-series dating of the dental tissues.