ESR DATING TEETH FROM ŠALITRENA, SERBIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FIRST "EUROPEAN HANDOVER" FROM NEANDERTHALS TO ANATOMICALLY MODERN HOMO SAPIENS

Anatomically modern Homo sapiens (amHs) first arrived in Europe during latter half of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3. Despite > 150 years research on the relationship between Neanderthals and amHs, if or how these two species interacted remains uncertain. Šalitrena Pećina is the only Serbian site south of the Danube, where a continuous sedimentary sequence records the Middle/Upper Paleolithic (MP/UP) transition. First dug in 1983, Šalitrena sits in a cave near Breždje in central Serbia in the Dinaric Mountains. The cave opens about 20 m a meander in the Ribnica River. The three Pleistocene river terraces yield both Gravettian and Mousterian tools (i.e., spanning the MP/UP transition). In the cave entrance, six sediment layers reach ~ 1.5 m thick. Layer 1's loose gray surficial sediment contains mixed artefacts from several time periods. Layer 2, a compact gray-brown sediment and Starčevo artefacts. In Layers 3-4, fine yellow silty sand with large éboulis and loose dark brown sediment with soot and scree, respectively, contain Gravettian artefacts and flint. Layer 5, a grey-brown sandy silt with éboulis, contains Aurignacian artefacts. Layer 6 contains brown, sandy silt with 20% éboulis, hearths, and a Levallois industry having déjeté and transversal sidescrapers in the upper zones and bifacial artefacts at the bottom. AMS ¹⁴C has dated Layers 3-4 at ~ 24-25 ka, Layer 5 at ~ 31 ka, and Layer 6 at ~ 38-39 ka. Since its ¹⁴C ages approach the ¹⁴C dating limit, five herbivore teeth from Layer 6 have been dated by standard and isochron ESR. ESR can date tooth enamel from ~ 5 ka to > 2 Ma, with ~ 2-5 % precision. To measure the volumetrically averaged sedimentary dose rates, > 25 sediment samples from six layers within 30 cm of the teeth were analyzed by NAA. Cosmic dose rates were calculated by ramped box averaging, based upon the geological data about the sedimentary cover. Accumulated doses were calculated using the additive dose method using 15 precisely characterized doses.