Chronological and genetic analysis of an Upper Palaeolithic female infant burial from Borsuka Cave, Poland.

Six infant human teeth and 112 animal tooth pendants from Borsuka Cave were identified as the oldest burial in Poland. However, uncertainties around the dating and the association of the teeth to the pendants have precluded their association with an Upper Palaeolithic archaeological industry. Using <67 mg per tooth, we combined dating and genetic analyses of two human teeth and six herbivore tooth pendants to address these questions.

A radiocarbon spike at 14 300 cal yr BP in subfossil trees provides the impulse response function of the global carbon cycle during the Late Glacial.

We present new C results measured on subfossil Scots Pines recovered in the eroded banks of the Drouzet watercourse in the Southern French Alps. About 400 new C ages have been analysed on 15 trees sampled at annual resolution. The resulting ΔC record exhibits an abrupt spike occurring in a single year at 14 300-14 299 cal yr BP and a century-long event between 14 and 13.

Initial Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens from Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria.

The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in Europe witnessed the replacement and partial absorption of local Neanderthal populations by Homo sapiens populations of African origin. However, this process probably varied across regions and its details remain largely unknown. In particular, the duration of chronological overlap between the two groups is much debated, as are the implications of this overlap for the nature of the biological and cultural interactions between Neanderthals and H.

A C chronology for the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition at Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria.

The stratigraphy at Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria, spans the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition, including an Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP) assemblage argued to represent the earliest arrival of Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens in Europe. We applied the latest techniques in C dating to an extensive dataset of newly excavated animal and human bones to produce a robust, high-precision radiocarbon chronology for the site. At the base of the stratigraphy, the Middle Palaeolithic (MP) occupation dates to >51,000 yr BP.

Liquid chromatographic isolation of individual carbohydrates from environmental matrices for stable carbon analysis and radiocarbon dating.

Carbohydrates are among the most abundant organic molecules in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems; however, very few studies have addressed their isotopic signature using compound-specific isotope analysis, which provides additional information on their origin (δC) and fate (ΔC). In this study, semi-preparative liquid chromatography with refractive index detection (HPLC-RI) was employed to produce pure carbohydrate targets for subsequent offline δC and ΔC isotopic analysis. δC analysis was performed by elemental analyzer-isotope ratio mass spectrometer (EA-IRMS) whereas ΔC analysis was performed by an innovative measurement procedure based on the direct combustion of the isolated fractions using an elemental analyzer coupled to the gas source of a mini carbon dating system (AixMICADAS).