Direct dating of Early Upper Palaeolithic human remains from Mladeč
Direct dating of Early Upper Palaeolithic human remains from Mladeč
复制标题
姆拉德奇旧石器时代晚期早期人类遗骸的直接年代测定
作者：
E. Wild;M. Teschler;W. Kutschera;P. Steier;E. Trinkaus;W. Wanek
莫拉维亚(捷克共和国)Mladeč洞穴中的人类化石组合被认为是在考古遗迹(一些石器和有机物品，如骨尖、锥子、穿孔牙齿)的基础上来自中欧奥里尼亚期的中后期，尽管存在人类化石与考古材料之间的联系以及有限的考古遗迹的年代学意义的问题。人类化石组合的形态多样性，在一些标本中存在明显的古老特征，以及假定的遗骸的早期日期，使得这一化石组合在评估欧洲现代人类的出现方面发挥了关键作用。在这里，我们介绍了首次成功的直接加速器质谱仪放射性碳测年的五个代表性的人类化石从该地点。我们选择了牙齿和一块骨头的样品进行14C测年。这四个牙齿样本得出的未校准年龄为∼31,000 14C，而骨骼样本(尺骨)提供了一个不确定的更近的年龄。这些数据足以证实，Mladeč人类组合是欧洲最古老的早期现代人的颅骨、牙齿和颅后组合，因此对东半球西北部现代人类的出现和尼安德特人的命运的讨论至关重要。
The human fossil assemblage from the Mladeč Caves in Moravia (Czech Republic) has been considered to derive from a middle or later phase of the Central European Aurignacian period on the basis of archaeological remains (a few stone artefacts and organic items such as bone points, awls, perforated teeth), despite questions of association between the human fossils and the archaeological materials and concerning the chronological implications of the limited archaeological remains. The morphological variability in the human assemblage, the presence of apparently archaic features in some specimens, and the assumed early date of the remains have made this fossil assemblage pivotal in assessments of modern human emergence within Europe. We present here the first successful direct accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating of five representative human fossils from the site. We selected sample materials from teeth and from one bone for 14C dating. The four tooth samples yielded uncalibrated ages of ∼31,000 14C years before present, and the bone sample (an ulna) provided an uncertain more-recent age. These data are sufficient to confirm that the Mladeč human assemblage is the oldest cranial, dental and postcranial assemblage of early modern humans in Europe and is therefore central to discussions of modern human emergence in the northwestern Old World and the fate of the Neanderthals.