ESR Dating Ungulate Tooth Enamel from the Mousterian Layers at Pešturina, Serbia

Summary

In southern Serbia, Pešturina contains three Mousterian layers, with late Pleistocene faunae. The site

overlooks a tributary to the Nišava River southwest of Niš near the Sičeva Gorge. In all three

sedimentological layers, the large mammalian faunae suggest a mixed environment with temperate forest,

rocky cliffs, and steppe within walking distance from the cave. Fragmentation patterns and butchering marks

plus the lithic tools indicate that some faunal remains were human kills. A depositional hiatus occurred

between Layers 4 and 3. From 14 ungulate teeth from the Mousterian layers, 50 enamel subsamples were

independently ESR dated. With < 0.1 ppm U in the enamel, and 1.0-3.5 ppm dentinal U, the ESR ages do not

depend on the U uptake rates used for the calculations. Nor does any potential Rn loss introduce any

uncertainty. To assess the external dose rates, bulk sediment samples and individual mineralogically distinct

components were analyzed by NAA, then volumetrically averaged, while time-averaged cosmic dose rates

were calculated using the ramped box method. At least two teeth had been reworked, likely associated with

the erosion event that removed part of Layer 4 before the deposition of Layer 3. ESR ages correlated with

Marine (Oxygen) Isotope Stages (MIS) 3-6.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14979