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RADIOCARBON DATING ROZHOK I, A MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC OPEN-AIR SITE IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2022

A K Otcherednoy ,
P E Nehoroshev ,
L B Vishnyatsky ,
E V Voskresenskaya ,
J R Southon Open the ORCID record for J R Southon [Opens in a new window]  and
J F Hoffecker Open the ORCID record for J F Hoffecker [Opens in a new window]
A K Otcherednoy
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya nab., 18, 191186 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
P E Nehoroshev
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya nab., 18, 191186 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
L B Vishnyatsky
Affiliation:
Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya nab., 18, 191186 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
E V Voskresenskaya
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetnoi pereulok, dom 29, str. 4, 119017 Моscow, Russian Federation
J R Southon
Affiliation:
Earth System Science Department, B321 Croul Hall, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-3100, USA
J F Hoffecker*
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Samples of bone and teeth from the Middle Paleolithic open-air site of Rozhok I, located on the Gulf of Taganrog, were dated by radiocarbon (14C). We obtained 26 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates on a large sample of nonhuman bone and teeth recovered by N. D. Praslov during 1961–1962 from 5 of the 6 occupation horizons at Rozhok I. Two rigorous pretreatment methods were applied to the samples: ultra-filtration and XAD resin. The 14C ages from the uppermost two layers (Horizons 1 and 2) are infinite with the exception of one age near the limit of the 14C method. By contrast, the dates from Horizon 3 and the two lowermost layers (Horizons 5 and 6) are all finite ages and some are less than 45,000 BP (uncalibrated). While there is evidence of some post-depositional disturbance, there is no evidence of a stratigraphic reversal of the cultural layers. The simplest explanation for the pattern is that bones and teeth in the lower layers have been contaminated by groundwater containing young carbon. We conclude that Rozhok I probably antedates 50,000 cal BP and is beyond the range of 14C dating.

Keywords

human toothMiddle Paleolithicradiocarbon
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 64 , Issue 1 , February 2022 , pp. 153 - 170
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press for the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona

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