Cited by 149Pleistocene-Era Hominins and ArchaeologyArchaeology and ancient environmental studiesGeology and Paleoclimatology Research

Luminescence dating and palaeomagnetic age constraint on hominins from Sima de los Huesos, Atapuerca, Spain

Open access
Arnold, Lee J., Demuro, Martina, Parés, Josep M., Arsuaga, Juan Luis, Aranburu, Arantza, Bermúdez de Castro, José María, Carbonell, Eudald·2014·Journal of Human Evolution

Abstract

Establishing a reliable chronology on the extensive hominin remains at Sima de los Huesos is critical for an improved understanding of the complex evolutionary histories and phylogenetic relationships of the European Middle Pleistocene hominin record. In this study, we use a combination of 'extended-range' luminescence dating techniques and palaeomagnetism to provide new age constraint on sedimentary infills that are unambiguously associated with the Sima fossil assemblage. Post-infrared-infrared stimulated luminescence (pIR-IR) dating of K-feldspars and thermally transferred optically stimulated luminescence (TT-OSL) dating of individual quartz grains provide weighted mean ages of 433 ± 15 ka (thousands of years) and 416 ± 19 ka, respectively, for allochthonous sedimentary horizons overlying the hominin-bearing clay breccia. The six replicate luminescence ages obtained for this deposit are reproducible and provide a combined minimum age estimate of 427 ± 12 ka for the underlying hominin fossils. Palaeomagnetic directions for the luminescence dated sediment horizon and underlying fossiliferous clays display exclusively normal polarities. These findings are consistent with the luminescence dating results and confirm that the hominin fossil horizon accumulated during the Brunhes Chron, i.e., within the last 780 ka. The new bracketing age constraint for the Sima hominins is in broad agreement with radiometrically dated Homo heidelbergensis fossil sites, such as Mauer and Arago, and suggests that the split of the H. neanderthalensis and H. sapiens lineages took place during the early Middle Pleistocene. More widespread numerical dating of key Early and Middle Pleistocene fossil sites across Europe is needed to test and refine competing models of hominin evolution. The new luminescence chronologies presented in this study demonstrate the versatility of TT-OSL and pIR-IR techniques and the potential role they could play in helping to refine evolutionary histories over Middle Pleistocene timescales.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.12.001

Cites

149 of 149 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Archaic hominins (Neanderthals and Denisovans) lived in Eurasia for more than 400 ka.

    “Although AMHs arrived in Eurasia ∼70 ka, other hominins (e.g., Neanderthals and Denisovans) lived there for more than 400 ka (Arnold et al. 2014; Meyer et al. 2014, 2016).”

    From Archaic Introgression Shaped Human Circadian Traits (2023) · cites this paper as Arnold et al. 2014

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 150 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Arnold, L. J., Demuro, M., Parés, J. M., Arsuaga, J. L., Aranburu, A., Bermúdez de Castro, J. M., & Carbonell, E.
Affiliations
  • Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (ES)
  • University of the Basque Country (ES)
  • Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (ES)
Corresponding author
Arnold, Lee J.
Venue
Journal of Human Evolution
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2014-02
Volume
67
Pages
85-107
ISSN
0047-2484 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1969608407
Cited by
149
References
150
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 11
FWCI
82.11
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
other-oa
Locations
  • Journal of Human Evolution (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
Keywords
Sima de los Huesos, hominin chronology, luminescence dating, Brunhes Chron, Middle Pleistocene, Homo heidelbergensis, Neanderthals
MeSH terms
Clay, Aluminum Silicates, Animals, Biological Evolution, Fossils, Paleontology, Spain, Hominidae, Radiometric Dating

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review