Direct dating of Early Upper Palaeolithic human remains from Mladeč

From Nature 435, 332-335 (19 May 2005) | doi:10.1038/nature03585; Received 24 October 2004; Accepted 22 March 2005

Eva M. Wild¹, Maria Teschler-Nicola³, Walter Kutschera¹, Peter Steier¹, Erik Trinkaus⁴ & Wolfgang Wanek²

1. VERA (Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator) Laboratory, Institut für Isotopenforschung und Kernphysik der Universität Wien, Währingerstraße 17,
2. Department für Chemische Ökologie und Ökosystemwissenschaften, Universität Wien, Althanstrasse 14, A-1090 Wien, Austria
3. Anthropologische Abteilung, Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Burgring 7, A-1010 Wien, Austria
4. Department of Anthropology, Washington University, Campus Box 1114, St Louis, Missouri 63130, USA

Correspondence to: Eva M. Wild¹Maria Teschler-Nicola³Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to E.M.W. (Email: eva.maria.wild@univie.ac.at) and M.T.-N. (Email: maria.teschler@univie.ac.at).

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Abstract

The human fossil assemblage from the Mladeč Caves in Moravia (Czech Republic)¹ has been considered to derive from a middle or later phase of the Central European Aurignacian period on the basis of archaeological remains (a few stone artefacts and organic items such as bone points, awls, perforated teeth)², despite questions³ of association between the human fossils and the archaeological materials and concerning the chronological implications of the limited archaeological remains⁴. The morphological variability in the human assemblage, the presence of apparently archaic features in some specimens, and the assumed early date of the remains have made this fossil assemblage pivotal in assessments of modern human emergence within Europe^5, 6, 7. We present here the first successful direct accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating of five representative human fossils from the site. We selected sample materials from teeth and from one bone for ¹⁴C dating. The four tooth samples yielded uncalibrated ages of ~31,000 ¹⁴C years before present, and the bone sample (an ulna) provided an uncertain more-recent age. These data are sufficient to confirm that the Mladeč human assemblage is the oldest cranial, dental and postcranial assemblage of early modern humans in Europe and is therefore central to discussions of modern human emergence in the northwestern Old World and the fate of the Neanderthals.