ESR Dating of Tooth Enamel: Comparison with AMS14C at El Castillo Cave, Spain

At El Castillo, in Cantabrian Spain, uncalibrated AMS14C dating has shown the transition from Mousterian to Aurignacian to occur at 39·3±1·6 kaBP. We found ESR tooth enamel ages from the basal Aurignacian level at El Castillo to be 36·2±4·1 ka (early and linear uptake). The enamel and dentine had very low U contents, but ESR ages are strongly dependent upon knowledge of the moisture content history of the sediments. Although the Aurignacian ESR age is 8% younger than the weighted average uncalibrated AMS14C age of 39·6±1·3 ka obtained from charcoal samples, we have shown that the methods agree within experimental uncertainty. However, since no precise14C calibration yet exists for this period of time, we are unable to specify which of the ages is more accurate, nor are we able ascribe the apparent age discrepancy to a particular deficiency in the ESR method.