New ESR/U-series dates in Yabrudian and Amudian layers at Qesem Cave, Israel

• Published in: Quaternary international 2016-04, Vol.398, p.6-12
• Main Authors: Falguères, C., Richard, M., Tombret, O., Shao, Q., Bahain, J.J., Gopher, A., Barkai, R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amudian; Archaeology and Prehistory; ESR/U-series; Humanities and Social Sciences; Middle East; Middle Pleistocene; Qesem Cave; Yabrudian
• ISSN: 1040-6182; 1873-4553
• DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2015.02.006

Qesem Cave is a Middle Pleistocene site situated 12 km east of the Mediterranean coast of Tel Aviv, Israel. It is attributed to the Acheuleo-Yabrudian Cultural Complex (AYCC) of the late Lower Paleolithic period, dated to ca. 420–200ka. This site exhibits a unique prehistoric sequence where the Amudian blade dominated industry is the main cultural component, however the scraper-dominated Yabrudian industry is also represented in distinct contexts at the cave. The chronology established by TL applied on burnt flints, ESR/U-series on herbivorous teeth and U-series on spelothems, suggests that Qesem Cave is one of the oldest sites yielding such a blade industry and a fully-fledged trajectory of Quina scrapers production. This work presents new ESR/U-series dates on four animal teeth unearthed from an Amudian central hearth recently published and four other teeth from a Yabrudian industry-bearing layer in the shelf area. The dates range from 249 to 296ka for the Amudian hearth (mean age of 280ka) and from 279 to 382ka for the Yabrudian layer (mean age of 313ka). These radiometric dates provide new information on the chronology of the Amudian and Yabrudian industries in the hearth and shelf areas and contribute towards a better understanding of the chronology of Qesem Cave as a whole. This is the first time we have direct dates from Amudian and Yabrudian context from a single site.