Absolute dating by uranium series disequilibrium of bones from the cave of La Chaise‐de‐Vouthon (Charente), France

Abstract Animal bones, associated with Palaeolithic artefacts and skeletal remains of early hominids from the cave of La Chaise‐de‐Vouthon, have been dated using a new approach to uranium series dating of bone. Speleothem (cave calcite) interstratified with bone‐bearing sediments in the two chambers of Grotte Bourgeois‐Delaunay and Grotte Suard have previously been dated by the 230 Th/ 234 U method. This provides a chronological control for the bone ages, for which the method is still at an experimental stage. A good agreement is shown in most cases between the calcite and the bone ages, showing the cave to have been a stable environment for the deposition of bone and the acquisition of uranium.