Oms O, Parés J M, Martinez-Navarro B, Agusti J, Toro I, Martinez-Fernández G, Turq A
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Departament de Geologia, Unitat d'Estratigrafia, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000 Sep 12;97(19):10666-70. doi: 10.1073/pnas.180319797.
The lacustrine deposits infilling the intramontane Guadix-Baza Basin, in the Betic Range of Southern Spain, have yielded abundant well-preserved lithic artifacts. In addition, the lake beds contain a wide range of micromammals including Mimomys savini and Allophaiomys burgondiae and large mammals such as Mammuthus and Hippopotamus together with the African saber-toothed felid Megantereon. The association of the lithic artifacts along with the fossil assemblages, themselves of prime significance in the Eurasian mammal biochronology, is providing new insight into the controversy of the human settlement in Southern Europe. Despite the importance of the artifacts and fossil assemblage, estimates of the geological age of the site are still in conflict. Some attempts at dating the sediments have included biochronology, uranium series, amino acid racemization, and stratigraphic correlation with other well-dated sections in the basin, but so far have failed to yield unambiguous ages. Here we present paleomagnetic age dating at the relevant localities and thus provide useful age constraints for this critical paleoanthropological and mammal site. Our data provide firm evidence for human occupation in Southern Europe in the Lower Pleistocene, around 1 mega-annum ago. The current view of when and how hominids first dispersed into Europe needs to be reevaluated.
填充西班牙南部贝蒂克山脉山间瓜迪克斯-巴扎盆地的湖相沉积物中，出土了大量保存完好的石制手工艺品。此外，湖床中还包含各种各样的小型哺乳动物，如萨维尼鼠兔和布尔贡德异鼠，以及大型哺乳动物，如猛犸象和河马，还有非洲剑齿猫类巨颏虎。石制手工艺品与化石组合的关联，本身在欧亚哺乳动物生物年代学中具有重要意义，正在为南欧人类定居的争议提供新的见解。尽管这些手工艺品和化石组合很重要，但对该遗址地质年代的估计仍存在冲突。一些对沉积物进行年代测定的尝试包括生物年代学、铀系法、氨基酸消旋作用，以及与盆地中其他年代确定的剖面进行地层对比，但到目前为止，尚未得出明确的年代。在此，我们展示了相关地点的古地磁年代测定结果，从而为这个关键的古人类学和哺乳动物遗址提供了有用的年代限制。我们的数据为早更新世约100万年前南欧的人类居住提供了确凿证据。目前关于原始人类首次何时以及如何扩散到欧洲的观点需要重新评估。
