Dating the Neanderthal environment: Detailed luminescence chronology of a palaeochannel sediment core at the Palaeolithic site of Lichtenberg in the Lower Saxony, northern Germany

Abstract

Northern Germany is famous for its numerous Neanderthal (Middle Palaeolithic) archaeological sites and well-preserved palaeoclimate records. Nevertheless, our understanding of how hominins responded to climate fluctuations and adapted to changing environments in this region remains limited because there are only a few reliable, highly-resolved chronological frameworks of long stratigraphic successions. Most of the Middle Palaeolithic sites in this region lack a reliable chronostratigraphy beyond the radiocarbon dating range. In this study, we present a high-resolution optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) chronology derived from a ∼21 m long sediment core (Li-BPa) that was drilled in close proximity to the known Neanderthal site of Lichtenberg. Quartz OSL dating was applied to the upper 6.5 m of the core. Subsequently, the obtained quartz OSL ages were compared with feldspar post-infrared (IR) IRSL (pIRIR) measured at 290 °C (pIRIR₂₉₀), pulsed IR₅₀ (pre-pIRIR₂₂₅), and pulsed pIRIR₂₂₅ ages to select a suitable feldspar signal to date older samples. A comparison of the quartz and feldspar ages indicates that only fading-corrected pulsed IR₅₀ (pre-pIRIR₂₂₅) and pIRIR₂₂₅ ages agree well with quartz OSL ages. Finally, the age framework of the sediment sequence was established based on the 11 quartz OSL ages and 23 fading-corrected pulsed IR₅₀ (pre-pIRIR₂₂₅) and pulsed pIRIR₂₂₅ ages. The resulting Bacon age-depth model agrees with litho- and biostratigraphic designations, indicating that the whole sequence was deposited between ca. 275 ka and ca. 24 ka, corresponding to the Saalian to Weichselian periods.