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Luminescence dating of reticulated red clay buried in Lanshanmiao Paleolithic site in Zhejiang Province, southern China

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Abstract

The Lanshanmiao (LSM) Palaeolithic site, which was excavated in the summer of 2017 by the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, is the only excavated palaeolithic site in central Zhejiang Province to date. Luminescence dating methods, including optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) and thermal transfer OSL (TT-OSL) for quartz and post-infrared (IR) stimulated luminescence (pIRIR290) for feldspar, were used to determine the age of the LSM site. The results showed that the LSM section developed before 145.5 ± 12.5 ka and ended after 17.1 ± 1.0 ka. The TT-OSL dating of samples NJU2576 and NJU2615 showed that palaeolithic artifact-bearing layer was between 150 and 100 ka in age. The age range of the palaeolithic layer mainly corresponded to the transition between Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 and MIS5. Our study showed that hominins prominently occupied the LSM site during the glacial and interglacial stages, when it exhibited a floodplain environment.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Zeng Qiongxuan, Xu Xinghua, and Lu Yiming for their assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Ying Lu, Xuefeng Sun & Shuangwen Yi

  2. Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Hangzhou, 310014, China

    Xinmin Xu & Yalin Liu

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  1. Ying Lu
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Correspondence to Xuefeng Sun.

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Foundation: National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41972185, No.41690111

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Lu, Y., Sun, X., Xu, X. et al. Luminescence dating of reticulated red clay buried in Lanshanmiao Paleolithic site in Zhejiang Province, southern China. J. Geogr. Sci. 30, 1436–1450 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-020-1791-y

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