%0 Journal Article
%A Amold, Lee J.
%A Demuro, Martina
%A Parés, Josep M.
%A Arsuaga Ferreras, Juan Luis
%A Aramburr, Arantza
%A Bermúdez de Castro, José María
%A Carbonell i Roura, Eudald
%T Luminescence dating and palaeomagnetic age constraint on homininsfrom Sima de los Huesos, Atapuerca, Spain
%D 2014
%@ 0047-2484
%U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/33680
%X Establishing a reliable chronology on the extensive hominin remains at Sima de los Huesos is critical foran improved understanding of the complex evolutionary histories and phylogenetic relationships of theEuropean Middle Pleistocene hominin record. In this study, we use a combination of ‘extended-range’luminescence dating techniques and palaeomagnetism to provide new age constraint on sedimentaryinfills that are unambiguously associated with the Sima fossil assemblage. Post-infrared-infrared stimulatedluminescence (pIR-IR) dating of K-feldspars and thermally transferred optically stimulatedluminescence (TT-OSL) dating of individual quartz grains provide weighted mean ages of 433 � 15 ka(thousands of years) and 416 � 19 ka, respectively, for allochthonous sedimentary horizons overlying thehominin-bearing clay breccia. The six replicate luminescence ages obtained for this deposit are reproducibleand provide a combined minimum age estimate of 427 � 12 ka for the underlying homininfossils. Palaeomagnetic directions for the luminescence dated sediment horizon and underlying fossiliferousclays display exclusively normal polarities. These findings are consistent with the luminescencedating results and confirm that the hominin fossil horizon accumulated during the Brunhes Chron, i.e.,within the last 780 ka. The new bracketing age constraint for the Sima hominins is in broad agreementwith radiometrically dated Homo heidelbergensis fossil sites, such as Mauer and Arago, and suggests thatthe split of the H. neanderthalensis and H. sapiens lineages took place during the early Middle Pleistocene.More widespread numerical dating of key Early and Middle Pleistocene fossil sites across Europe isneeded to test and refine competing models of hominin evolution. The new luminescence chronologiespresented in this study demonstrate the versatility of TT-OSL and pIR-IR techniques and the potentialrole they could play in helping to refine evolutionary histories over Middle Pleistocene timescales.
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