Sima del Elefante (Atapuerca, Spain): New late Middle Pleistocene dates for the uppermost stratigraphic unit of a key site in European Human Evolution

IF 0.7 4区地球科学 Q3 ANTHROPOLOGY

Anthropologie Pub Date : 2026-07-01 Epub Date: 2026-07-30 DOI:10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103505

Davinia Moreno, Xosé Pedro Rodríguez-Álvarez, Christophe Falguères, Jean-Jacques Bahain, Mathieu Duval, Olivier Tombret, François Trompier, Ana Isabel Ortega Martínez, Raquel Pérez-Martínez, Antonio Rosas, Palmira Saladié, Clara Mielgo, Josep Vallverdú, Rosa Huguet

{"title":"Sima del Elefante (Atapuerca, Spain): New late Middle Pleistocene dates for the uppermost stratigraphic unit of a key site in European Human Evolution","authors":"Davinia Moreno, Xosé Pedro Rodríguez-Álvarez, Christophe Falguères, Jean-Jacques Bahain, Mathieu Duval, Olivier Tombret, François Trompier, Ana Isabel Ortega Martínez, Raquel Pérez-Martínez, Antonio Rosas, Palmira Saladié, Clara Mielgo, Josep Vallverdú, Rosa Huguet","doi":"10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103505","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Sima del Elefante site, located in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain), represents one of the oldest, if not the oldest one, known archaeo-paleontological locality in Western Europe. Its 25 m-thick stratigraphic sequence spans part of the Lower to the latest Middle Pleistocene, making it one of the longest and best-documented sedimentary cave infill records in Europe. At the base of the sequence, hominin remains associated with lithic artifacts and faunal assemblages have been constrained to between ∼1.1 and ∼1.4 Ma, providing one of the earliest evidence of human presence in Europe. The upper part of the sequence, including level TE19, is dated to between 266 and 237ka by Luminescence (TT-OSL and pIR-IR<sub>225</sub>). This study presents new dating results (127±28 et 153±15ka) for level TE19, through the application of combined U-series/ESR and laser-ablation U-series methods on two teeth of <em>Equus sp.</em> These results are compared with previously published luminescence ages, as well as faunal data, to offer a critical assessment of the chronology of the upper part of the sequence. Together, these data contribute to refine the chronostratigraphic framework of Sima del Elefante, with implications for the timing of human occupations and the environmental context of early European populations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46860,"journal":{"name":"Anthropologie","volume":"130 3","pages":"Article 103505"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Anthropologie","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003552126000592","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/7/30 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Sima del Elefante site, located in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain), represents one of the oldest, if not the oldest one, known archaeo-paleontological locality in Western Europe. Its 25 m-thick stratigraphic sequence spans part of the Lower to the latest Middle Pleistocene, making it one of the longest and best-documented sedimentary cave infill records in Europe. At the base of the sequence, hominin remains associated with lithic artifacts and faunal assemblages have been constrained to between ∼1.1 and ∼1.4 Ma, providing one of the earliest evidence of human presence in Europe. The upper part of the sequence, including level TE19, is dated to between 266 and 237 ka by Luminescence (TT-OSL and pIR-IR₂₂₅). This study presents new dating results (127 ± 28 et 153 ± 15 ka) for level TE19, through the application of combined U-series/ESR and laser-ablation U-series methods on two teeth of Equus sp. These results are compared with previously published luminescence ages, as well as faunal data, to offer a critical assessment of the chronology of the upper part of the sequence. Together, these data contribute to refine the chronostratigraphic framework of Sima del Elefante, with implications for the timing of human occupations and the environmental context of early European populations.

查看原文本刊更多论文

Sima del Elefante（西班牙，Atapuerca）：欧洲人类进化关键地点最上层地层单位的新中更新世晚期年代

Sima del Elefante遗址位于西班牙布尔戈斯（Burgos）的阿塔普埃尔卡山脉（Sierra de Atapuerca），是西欧已知的最古老的考古古生物遗址之一。其25米厚的地层序列跨越了下更新世到最新中更新世的一部分，使其成为欧洲最长和最完整的沉积洞穴填充记录之一。在序列的底部，与石器器物和动物组合相关的古人类遗骸被限制在~ 1.1和~ 1.4 Ma之间，提供了人类在欧洲存在的最早证据之一。该序列的上半部分，包括TE19水平，通过发光（TT-OSL和pIR-IR225）可以追溯到266 - 237 ka之间。本研究通过联合应用u系列/ESR和激光消融u系列方法对Equus sp.的两颗牙齿进行了TE19水平的测年（127±28 et 153±15 ka），并将这些结果与先前发表的发光年龄以及区系数据进行了比较，以提供对序列上部年代学的关键评估。总之，这些数据有助于完善Sima del Elefante的年代地层框架，对人类占领的时间和早期欧洲人口的环境背景有影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Anthropologie ANTHROPOLOGY-

CiteScore

1.00

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： First published in 1890, Anthropologie remains one of the most important journals devoted to prehistoric sciences and paleoanthropology. It regularly publishes thematic issues, originalsarticles and book reviews.