ESR DATING OF MOUSTERIAN LEVELS AT EL CASTILLO CAVE, CANTABRIA, SPAIN

Sediments filling the cave of El Castillo, in Cantabrian Spain, contai n Acheulian, Mousterian, and Upper Palaeolithic industries. Bischoff e t al. (1992) obtained a U-series isochron date of 89 +/- 10 ka on a tr avertine layer separating Acheulian layers from the lowest Mousterian bed; layer 23. We have obtained electron spin resonance (ESR) ages on tooth enamel from the immediately overlying Mousterian-bearing layers 22 and 21, yielding an average age for the two layers of 70 +/- 8 ka. Early and linear uptake ages are indistinguishable, due to low uranium contents in the teeth. This age is consistent with the age for the un derlying travertine. Assuming a constant deposition rate, this age is also consistent with the c. 40 ka age for the overlying early Aurignac ian layer 18. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.