U-Th/ESR combined dating of faunal remains from the Mousterian open site of Beauvais (France)

Faunal remains from the Beauvais open site 'La Justice' (Oise) are the subj ect of an U-Th dating (disequilibrium of the uranium chain) and an ESR dati ng (electronic spin resonance). This study was performed in order to identi fy the chronological situation of the Middle Paleolithic levels of this sit e located in the north of France, supposedly aged stage 4 after stratigraph ic correlations. U-Th ages of bones and dentine are between 20 and 200 ka a nd are scattered; however, the combined ESR/U-Th ages of rhinoceros dental enamels are homogeneous and indicate that the archaeological levels were de posited between 60 to 40 ka. This period corresponds to the end of the oxyg en isotopic stage 4 to the beginning of stage 3. (C) 1999 Academie des scie nces.