ESR dating of Middle Pleistocene archaeo-paleontological sites from the Manzanares and Jarama river valleys (Madrid basin, Spain)

Abstract

In this work, three important Pleistocene sites of the Madrid basin located close to the junction of the Manzanares (PRERESA site) and the Jarama (Valdocarros site and Maresa quarry) rivers have been studied in order to improve the existing chronological framework of the basin and to clarify the geological evolution of these fluvial systems and their relationship with human occupations. To do so, Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) dating was applied to four fossil teeth and nine optically bleached quartz grain samples. Most of the obtained dates are consistent with the existing preliminary age estimates by biostratigraphy, luminescence (OSL and TL) or Amino Acid Racemization (AAR) dating. This ESR dating study suggests an age of Late Middle Pleistocene (early MIS6) for PRERESA site. At the Jarama valley (Valdocarros site and Maresa quarry), the Arganda I unit could be correlated to the MIS 9 and MIS10, the Arganda II unit seems to belong to MIS8 and MIS7 and the Arganda III to the MIS6.