ARCHOSL

Archives of Early Human Occupation in Western Europe: OSL Chronologies beyond the Middle Pleistocene in the Iberian Peninsula

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'A number of important archaeological sites within the Iberian Peninsula hold the key to answering fundamental questions about human evolution and migration out of Africa into Europe. However, the existence of chronologies that are either too ambiguous, imprecise, poorly described, or only based on non-numeric dating methods, prevents the development of well sustained hypotheses on the age of such early expansions, on hominin migratory patterns, and on the driving mechanism behind such migrations. This interdisciplinary project entails the application of newly developed techniques and protocols in the field of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating to obtain robust absolute chronologies on key Lower Palaeolithic archaeological sites in Western Europe. The main aim of the research is to improve and expand on the current chronological framework of important late Early Pleistocene (1.2 Ma - 780 ka) and Middle Pleistocene (780 ka - 125 ka) archaeological records in the Iberian Peninsula in order to accurately reconstruct and interpret the earliest human expansions into Europe. An integral aspect of this research is the pursuit of methodological advancements and refinements of the latest protocols in OSL dating to push back the existing age range of the technique. This project will focus on several important early human occupation sites in the Iberian Peninsula, namely the Atapuerca karstic complex in northern Spain, Orce sites (Fuente Nueva III and Barranco León), Guadix-Baza Basin, southeast Spain, and La Boella, south Barcelona, northeast Spain. This work will help to confidently reconstruct the emergence and expansion of human species in Western Europe, and improve interpretations of when and how past environmental changes have impacted human populations and their evolution.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

European researchers are further developing and refining the means to accurately reconstruct and interpret the earliest human expansions into Europe from Africa.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Various archaeological sites within the Iberian Peninsula are believed to hold the answers to fundamental questions regarding human evolution and migration from Africa. Existing chronologies, however, are still not sophisticated enough to support the development of well-sustained hypotheses on the age of such early expansions. Being too ambiguous, imprecise or poorly described, or being based on non-numeric dating methods alone, the current chronological framework does not allow for sound conclusions on hominid migratory patterns or the driving mechanism(s) behind such migrations.

In this context, the ARCHOSL project team seeks to apply newly developed techniques and protocols in the field of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. This approach has the potential to provide robust absolute chronologies on key Lower Palaeolithic archaeological sites in western Europe.

Among key project objectives is the pursuit of new methodological advancements in and refinements of the latest protocols in single-grain and multiple-grain OSL dating. Developments in this area will enable workers in the field to push back the existing age range of the technique.

To date, the project team has made progress in the collection of sediment samples (68 in total) from 11 archaeological sites in northern and southern Spain. Various techniques have been applied for measurements related to the sediment materials collected. This has enabled ARCHOSL members to arrive at a number of preliminary results that are key to advancing the project's underlying goals. For example, the majority of quartz samples that were measured display sufficiently bright and rapidly bleaching thermally transferred (TT)-OSL signals, enabling the estimation of burial doses from individual grains. One groundbreaking result has been the successful application of TT-OSL dating at the single-grain level, opening up the possibility of applying TT-OSL to a wider range of deposits.

Certain results also demonstrate the reliability of using extended-age optical dating methods on samples from the region, and highlight the potential for obtaining chronologies as far back as the Early/Middle Pleistocene boundary. Chronologies obtained as part of this study are some of the oldest produced to date using newly emerging luminescence techniques.

Ongoing ARCHOSL work will advance the quest to confidently reconstruct the emergence and expansion of human species in western Europe, placing Europe and Spain in particular at the forefront of emergent geochronology research. It will also contribute to improved interpretations of when and how past environmental changes impacted human populations and their evolution.