New Radiometric Ages for the Fauresmith Industry from Kathu Pan, Southern Africa: Implications for the Earlier to Middle Stone Age Transition
Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (2010) 269–283 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas New radiometric ages for the Fauresmith industry from Kathu Pan, southern Africa: Implications for the Earlier to Middle Stone Age transition Naomi Porat a,*, Michael Chazan b, Rainer Gru¨ n c, Maxime Aubert c, Vera Eisenmann d, Liora Kolska Horwitz e a Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel Street, Jerusalem 95501, Israel b Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, 19 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S2, Canada c Research School of Earth Sciences, Building 61 (HB-B), Mills Rd., The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia d MNHN, De´partement Histoire de la Terre, CP38, UMR 5143 du CNRS, Pale´obiodiversite´ et Pale´oenvironnements, 8 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France e National Natural History Collections, Faculty of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel article info abstract Article history: The Fauresmith lithic industry of South Africa has been described as transitional between the Earlier and Received 8 April 2009 Middle Stone Age. However, radiometric ages for this industry are inadequate. Here we present Received in revised form þ140 a minimum OSL age of 464 Æ 47 kyr and a combined U-series–ESR age of 542 107 kyr for an in situ 17 September 2009 À Fauresmith assemblage, and three OSL ages for overlying Middle and Later Stone Age strata, from the site Accepted 21 September 2009 of Kathu Pan 1 (Northern Cape Province, South Africa). These ages are discussed in relation to the available lithostratigraphy, faunal and lithic assemblages from this site.
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