Timing of the Saalian- and Elsterian glacial cycles and the implications for Middle - Pleistocene hominin presence in central Europe.

ABSTRACT: By establishing a luminescence-based chronology for fluvial deposits preserved between the Elsterian- and Saalian tills in central Germany, we obtained information on the timing of both the Middle Pleistocene glacial cycles and early human appearance in central Europe. The luminescence ages illustrate different climatic driven fluvial aggradation periods during the Saalian glacial cycle spanning from 400-150 ka. The ages of sediments directly overlying the Elsterian till are approximately 400 ka and prove that the first extensive Fennoscandian ice sheet extension during the Quaternary correlates with MIS 12 and not with MIS 10. Furthermore, the 400 ka old fluvial units contain Lower Paleolithic stone artefacts that document the first human appearance in the region. In addition, we demonstr

SUBMITTER: Lauer T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5865135 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature