ESR/U-series dating of palaeontological remains from the Neanderthal site of Mutzig-Rain (Alsace, France)

The Middle Paleolithic site of Mutzig-Rain, discovered in 1992, has been studied through several pits (called M1 to M15) and excavation area since 2009, evidencing several localities and delivering more than 5000 lithic artifacts and 12,000 well preserved paleontological remains. The main excavation M2 sequence corresponds to a collapsed rock shelter, containing several levels of Middle Paleolithic occupation. The faunal assemblage of the main archaeological levels (l.7a to 7c) from this sequence includes woolly mammoth, reindeer, horse, bison and woolly rhinoceros, reflecting both cold climate and a steppe context for the whole sequence, while microfauna from the lower levels (l.7d and l.10) indicate the occasional presence of forests that could correspond to a cooler climate. In 1995, U-series analyses on bones from M8 were attempted but the obtained results did not follow the sample stratigraphic order. Later, an OSL dating study has placed the M2 archaeological sequence as coeval to the onset of the Weichselian glacial stage (MIS5d-5a), between 100 and 80 ka.

The good preservation of the abundant faunal remains at Mutzig-Rain has allowed their use for ESR/U-series dating studies and the results obtained on Mutzig horse teeth are given in the present paper. A first set of analyses of teeth carried out from the M2 excavation provided ages around 106-96 ka for levels M2 l.7, in agreement with the OSL data, despite quite systematic evidence of U-leaching from the dental tissues and the consequent use of the Accelerating Uptake (AU) model for the age calculation. A second set of analyses on teeth from the M2 and M8 localities confirms this uranium leaching trend, placing the deposition of these levels ca 133 -122 ka.

Taking the whole set of ESR/U-series ages, which are slightly older than the OSL dates, would suggest that the stratigraphic sequence was deposited between ca 130 ka (M8 l. 6 and M2 l.10) and ca 100 ka (M2 l.7), i.e. on a time range covering the Eemian Interglacial (MIS5e) and the subsequent Early Weichselian Glacial stage (MIS5d-5a). However, as the faunal record indicates a cool climate and an open steppe-like environment for the whole archaeological sequence, the ESR/U-series dating to the Eemian Interglacial in the Mutzig-Rain sequence seems unlikely. In order to check the quality of the paleodosimetric reconstruction of the ESR/U-series analyses, an additional isochron study was performed for the two levels for which several teeth were analyzed: M2 l.7 (n = 4) and M8 l.6 (n = 3). This isochron study validates the proposed reconstruction and confirms the Early Weichselian age of these two levels. These results confirm the chronology established previously with OSL and places Mutzig-Rain as a reference site for the understanding of the Neanderthal Middle Palaeolithic occupation in Eastern France.