Age determination of fossil bones from the vindija neanderthal site in Croatia

Author(s): Eva Maria Wild, Maja Paunovic, Gernot Rabeder, Ilse Steffan, Peter Steier
Abstract: Vindija cave in Croatia is famous for the Neanderthal bones found in layer G of its sediment profile. Radiocarbon dating has been performed mainly on this layer due to the great interest in its fossils. In addition to Neanderthal remains, the sediment in layer G contains bones from the cave bear. Cave bear bones are found also in other layers of the sediment profile and offer the possibility of studying the bears' evolutionary mode. Therefore, we tried to determine the time span covered by the entire profile. The U/Th age determination method was applied to cave bear bones from different layers of the profile. For the younger part of the profile, the U/Th ages were compared with the results of the 14C and the amino-acid racemization method. The agreement of the different methods indicates that closed-system behavior can be assumed for the fossil bones from Vindija cave. From this finding it may be deduced that bones from the lower sediment layers are also closed systems and that the U/Th ages of these layers are reliable. This conclusion is corroborated by the stratigraphy of the cave profile. Œ 2001 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona.
Organisation(s): Department of Palaeontology, Department of Analytical Chemistry
External organisation(s): Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Journal: Radiocarbon
Volume: 43
Pages: 1021-1028
No. of pages: 8
ISSN: 0033-8222
Publication date: 2001
Peer reviewed: Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012: 1030 Physics, Astronomy
Portal url: https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/age-determination-of-fossil-bones-from-the-vindija-neanderthal-site-in-croatia(90215d2b-704a-4f74-8985-64e73448d162).html

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