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ESR dating of the Donggutuo Palaeolithic site in the Nihewan Basin, northern China

Geochronometria

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Abstract

The fluvio-lacustrine sequences in the Nihewan Basin, northern China, provide important terrestrial archives about Palaeolithic settlements and, therefore, about early human occupation in high northern latitude in East Asia. Here we present detailed ESR dating of the Donggutuo Palaeolithic site, located in this basin. Four levels A, B, C and E of the Donggutuo archaeological layer yield ESR ages ranging from 1060±129 ka to 1171±132 ka with a mean of 1119±132 ka. The ages are consistent with the paleomagnetic data, which show that the Donggutuo Palaeolithic site lies just below the onset of the Jaramillo normal subchron (0.99–1.07 Ma). Furthermore, our results indicate that the reliable ESR dating range of bleached quartz using Ti-Li centre can be effectively extended to 1100 ka and the Ti-Li centre was zeroed before the last deposition, which requires improvement of the understanding of the bleaching mechanism conditions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, 100029, China

    Chun-Ru Liu, Gong-Ming Yin, Fei Han, Jian-Ping Li, Wei-Juan Song & Duo Wang

  2. Key laboratory of Geography Information Science Ministry of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China

    Fang Fang

  3. Département de Préhistoire, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR7194 du CNRS, 1 rue René Panhard, 75013, Paris, France

    Pierre Voinchet & Jean-Jacques Bahain

  4. State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Cheng-Long Deng

  5. Schools of the Earth Science and Resource, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100083, China

    Wei-Juan Song & Duo Wang

Authors
  1. Chun-Ru Liu
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  2. Gong-Ming Yin
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  3. Fang Fang
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  4. Pierre Voinchet
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  5. Cheng-Long Deng
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  6. Fei Han
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  7. Jian-Ping Li
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  8. Wei-Juan Song
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  9. Duo Wang
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  10. Jean-Jacques Bahain
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jean-Jacques Bahain.

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Liu, CR., Yin, GM., Fang, F. et al. ESR dating of the Donggutuo Palaeolithic site in the Nihewan Basin, northern China. Geochron 40, 348–354 (2013). https://doi.org/10.2478/s13386-013-0127-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s13386-013-0127-4

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