Revisiting the chronology of some Late Early Pleistocene to Early Middle Pleistocene European localities: biochronological implications

Abstract

The Spanish Quaternary small vertebrate faunal record is usually divided into five main biozones: Allophaiomys pliocaenicus, Allophaiomys lavocati, Allophaiomys chalinei (A. chalinei has recently reassigned to the new genus Victoriamys), Iberomys brecciensis and Iberomys cabrerae. Among them, the V. chalinei biozone is usually considered as the last biozone of the Early Pleistocene, and covers an approximated time range from the Jaramillo suchron to the early Middle Pleistocene. This biozone includes several sites in Spain, like Huescar-1, El Chaparral, Cal Guardiola D5, Vallparadís EVT7 and Gran Dolina TD3-8a. The chronology of some of these localities has been recently updated by a series of works based on magnetostratigraphy and/or numerical dating such as extended- range luminescence (supergrain OSL, TT-OSL, post-IR IRSL) or Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) methods. A synthesis of these results will be presented, which may lead to some new biochronological interpretations, in particular regarding the chronological boundaries of this biozone. In addition, the chronology of other sites of supposedly Jaramillo age that would potentially fit within the time range of this biozone, such as Le Vallonnet (France) and Untermassfeld (Germany), will be also discussed.