Early Upper Paleolithic chronology in the Levant: new ABOx-SC accelerator mass spectrometry results from the Mughr el-Hamamah Site, Jordan

Abstract

Methodological developments and new paleoanthropological data remain jointly central to clarifying the timing and systemic interrelationships between the Middle-Upper Paleolithic (MP-UP) archaeological transition and the broadly contemporaneous anatomically modern human-archaic biological turnover. In the recently discovered cave site of Mughr el-Hamamah, Jordan, in situ flint artifacts comprise a diagnostic early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) assemblage. Unusually well-preserved charcoal from hearths and other anthropogenic features associated with the lithic material were subjected to acid-base-wet oxidation-stepped combustion (ABOx-SC) pretreatment. This article presents the ABOx-SC accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates on nine charcoal specimens from a single palimpsest occupation layer. Date calibration was carried out using the INTCAL13 radiocarbon calibration dataset. With the bulk of the material dating to 45-39 ka cal BP (thousands of years calibrated before present), the Mughr el-Hamamah lithic artifacts reveal important differences from penecontemporaneous sites in the region, documenting greater technological variability than previously known for this time frame in the Levant. The radiocarbon data from this EUP archaeological context highlight remaining challenges for increasing chronological precision in documenting the MP-UP transition.

Al-Ansab and the Dead Sea: Mid-MIS 3 archaeology and environment of the early Ahmarian population of the Levantine corridor

“…Pretreatment techniques followed the AAA (Acid-Alkali-Acid) protocol (see [43] for detailed description of Cologne lab procedures). Due to limited sample volumes at Al-Ansab 1, the Acid-Base-Oxidation (ABOx) protocol, which has occasionally delivered older dates than competitive protocols [44,45], was not applied because ABOx would have enhanced the risk of sample volumes loss of Al-Ansab 1 that in turn may have increased dating uncertainties (for detailed comparison of ABOx and competitive protocols see Wang in [46]; for recent criticism of ABOx see e.g. Rebollo [47] and Alex [11]).…”

Bondi Cave and the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition in western Georgia (south Caucasus)

“…Both IUP and EUP sequences exhibit a high degree of technological variability (see for instance Stutz et al, 2015), encompassing several types of reduction (for blade and/or elongated flakes). They also fall into a broad chronological and geographical framework.…”

Radiocarbon chronology of Manot Cave, Israel and Upper Paleolithic dispersals

“…Three of these are caves or rock shelters along the Mediterranean coast: Üçağızlı in Turkey ( 17 ), Ksâr ‘Akil in Lebanon ( 9 , 18 ), and Kebara in Israel ( 8 ). The fourth is Mughr el-Hamamah in the Jordan Valley ( 19 ). Other sites in the southern arid zone, including Abu Noshra I and II, Boker A, Qadesh Barnea, and the Lagaman sites, have fewer dates, and those were mostly produced in the 1970s and early 1980s with less reliable methods ( 20 , 21 ).…”