TY  - JOUR
AU  - Dirks, PH
AU  - Roberts, EM
AU  - Hilbert-Wolf, H
AU  - Kramers, JD
AU  - Hawks, J
AU  - Dosseto, A
AU  - Duval, M
AU  - Elliott, M
AU  - Evans, M
AU  - Grün, R
AU  - Hellstrom, J
AU  - Herries, AI
AU  - Joannes-Boyau, R
AU  - Makhubela, TV
AU  - Placzek, CJ
AU  - Robbins, J
AU  - Spandler, C
AU  - Wiersma, J
AU  - Woodhead, J
AU  - Berger, LR
Y2  - 2020/12/18
Y1  - 2017/05/09
SN  - 2050-084X
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/11343/255779
AB  - New ages for flowstone, sediments and fossil bones from the Dinaledi Chamber are presented. We combined optically stimulated luminescence dating of sediments with U-Th and palaeomagnetic analyses of flowstones to establish that all sediments containing Homo naledi fossils can be allocated to a single stratigraphic entity (sub-unit 3b), interpreted to be deposited between 236 ka and 414 ka. This result has been confirmed independently by dating three H. naledi teeth with combined U-series and electron spin resonance (US-ESR) dating. Two dating scenarios for the fossils were tested by varying the assumed levels of 222Rn loss in the encasing sediments: a maximum age scenario provides an average age for the two least altered fossil teeth of 253 +82/-70 ka, whilst a minimum age scenario yields an average age of 200 +70/-61 ka. We consider the maximum age scenario to more closely reflect conditions in the cave, and therefore, the true age of the fossils. By combining the US-ESR maximum age estimate obtained from the teeth, with the U-Th age for the oldest flowstone overlying Homo naledi fossils, we have constrained the depositional age of Homo naledi to a period between 236 ka and 335 ka. These age results demonstrate that a morphologically primitive hominin, Homo naledi, survived into the later parts of the Pleistocene in Africa, and indicate a much younger age for the Homo naledi fossils than have previously been hypothesized based on their morphology.
LA  - eng
PB  - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
T1  - The age of Homo naledi and associated sediments in the Rising Star Cave, South Africa.
DO  - 10.7554/eLife.24231
IS  - eLife
VL  - 6
SP  - e24231-
OP  - FT130100801
L1  - /bitstream/handle/11343/255779/PMC5423772.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
ER  -