Nuevas dataciones numéricas para Atapuerca Gran Dolina TD1 (Burgos, España)

Abstract

Atapuerca Gran Dolina site (Spain) is a 25-m thick cave sedimentary infill where 12 lithostratigraphic units have been identi- fied. If the uppermost part of the sequence has been widely studied over the last decades due to its richness in archaeological, paleontological and paleoanthropological remains, TD1-2 units at the bottom have instead received much less attention. However, the recent opening of a 10-m deep trench within TD1 revealed a thick unit of cave interior deposits, including laminated silt and clay. In order to constrain the chronology of these deposits, a detailed magnetostratigaphic study of TD1 was carried out (Parés et al., 2018). Results showed a dominantly reversed polarity, suggesting a Matuyama age (>0.78 Ma) for TD1, with a few short intervals of normal polarity in between. In particular, the uppermost interval has been tentatively correlated to the Jaramillo subchron (0.99-1.07 Ma). In order to confirm this initial chronological attribution, several sediment samples were collected along the sequence for Electron Spin Resonance dating purpose. The dating results will contribute to refine the chronostra- tigraphic framework of these Early Pleistocene cave interior deposits and enable correlations with other cave sedimentary infills of the Atapuerca complex.