Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Single-Grain Osl Chronologies For Middle Palaeolithic Deposits At El Mnasra And El Harhoura 2, Morocco: Implications For Late Pleistocene Human-Environment Interactions Along The Atlantic Coast Of Northwest Africa, Zenobia Jacobs, Richard Roberts, Roland Nespoulet, M El Hajraoui, Andre Debenath

Richard G Roberts

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) measurements were made on individual, sand-sized grains of quartz from Middle Palaeolithic deposits at two cave sites (El Harhoura 2 and El Mnasra) on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. We were able to calculate OSL ages for 32 of the 33 samples collected from the Middle Palaeolithic deposits, including the earliest and latest Aterian levels at both sites. These ages reveal periods of occupation between about 110 and 95 ka (thousands of years ago), and at ~75 ka. A late Middle Palaeolithic occupation of El Harhoura 2 is also recorded at ~55 ka. Our single-grain OSL …