ESR DATING FOR THE MOUSTERIAN LAYERS AND NEANDERTHAL INFANT AT ROC DE MARSAL, FRANCE

At Roc de Marsal, a rockshelter near Les Eyzies, Dordogne, France, was originally excavated by LaFille, but reports were never published. A complete articulated Neanderthal infant skeleton about 2-4 years old at death was discovered in Couche I, but was associated with a burial pit dug down from Couche V. The cave also housed Typical Mousterian artefact assemblages and numerous hearths deposited under warm moist climatic conditions, overlain by Quina and Denticulate Mousterian assemblages deposited under cooler conditions. Pollen and fauna suggested the climate cooled from warm interglacial conditions at the bottom to cold glacial conditions near the top of the deposits. In 2004-2006, new excavations in two quadrants of the remaining cave fill yielded several bovid teeth for ESR dating, as well as sedimentary and paleoenvironmental data for examining site formation processes and site use. Eight teeth from the newly excavated layers have been dated by ESR to determine ages and sedimentation rates for the deposits and to test for reworking. Volumetrically averaged geochemical sediment analyses from NAA and TL dosimetry were used to assess external dose rates. Extremely low U concentrations in the enamel and dentine ensure that the ESR ages do not depend on the U uptake model assumed in the ESR age calculations. Teeth from Layer II2 averaged 60 ± 5 ka, which correlates with the later phases of Oxygen Isotope Stage (OIS) 4. From Layer II3, the teeth averaged 63 ± 6 ka, which correlates with a cold phase within mid OIS 4. Layer II3 appears to be equivalent to LaFille's Couche XII. Layer I4 correlates with LaFille's Couche X. Teeth from Layer I4 yielded an average age of 76 ± 4 ka, which correlates with the OIS 5a/4 boundary, when climates began to cool substantially in the Dordogne. Therefore, the infant Neanderthal and its burial pit dates to ³ 76 ± 4 ka.