ESR study of elephant tooth enamel from the Karlich-Seeufer site in Germany

Enamel from 6 different positions in a well preserved elephant tooth from t he Karlich-Seeufer site in Germany has been irradiated up to 32 kGy. The X- band (v=9.5 GHz) ESR spectra of two subsamples have been decomposed into th ree real components with Maximum Likelihood Common Factor Analysis (MLCFA). One of these components due to orthorhombic CO2- radicals is predominant. Dose response curves for the contributions of these MLCFA components and fo r different heights in the ESR spectra have been obtained and fitted with d ifferent models. Depending on the model, the equivalent dose for the prefer ably used height at g=1.9973, due to CO2- ranges from 70 to 130 Gy, Due to a very low uranium and thorium content in both enamel and dentine (less tha n or equal to similar to 10 ppb) and to an important external gamma-attenua tion, the ages fluctuate between 300 and 575 ka. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.