Grün R, Beaumont P B, Stringer C B
Subdepartment of Quaternary Research, Cambridge University, UK.
Nature. 1990 Apr 5;344(6266):537-9. doi: 10.1038/344537a0.
The archaeological and hominid site of Border Cave (KwaZulu, South Africa) has a stratigraphic sequence covering the Middle and Later Stone Ages (MSA and LSA). It has been proposed that four hominid specimens recovered there (BC1 and BC2 of uncertain provenance, and BC3 and BC5 recovered from MSA layers) represent very early examples of anatomically modern humans, supporting an early late-Pleistocene appearance of modern Homo sapiens in Africa. This early appearance, however, has been questioned, largely because of doubts about the stratigraphic positions associated with the specimens and because of the lack of a reliable chronology for the stratigraphic sequence. We now report on the first comprehensive radiometric dating analysis of Border Cave, using electron spin resonance (ESR) on teeth within sediment layers. BC3 is likely to be approximately 70-80 kyr old, and BC5, 50-65 kyr old. BC1 and BC2 are almost certainly less than 90 kyr old. These results, although younger than some age estimates, support the early occurrence of anatomically modern humans at Border Cave. In addition, our results suggest that the Howiesons Poort lithic industry (approximately 45-75 kyr) and the MSA-LSA transition (approximately 35 kyr) are younger than often believed.
位于南非夸祖鲁的边境洞穴考古遗址和原始人类遗址，其地层序列涵盖了中石器时代和晚石器时代（MSA和LSA）。有人提出，在那里发现的四具原始人类标本（来源不明的BC1和BC2，以及从MSA地层中出土的BC3和BC5）代表了解剖学意义上现代人类的非常早期的例子，这支持了现代智人在非洲晚更新世早期出现的观点。然而，这种早期出现的观点受到了质疑，主要是因为对与这些标本相关的地层位置存在疑问，以及缺乏该地层序列可靠的年代学。我们现在报告边境洞穴的首次全面放射性测年分析，对沉积层中的牙齿使用电子自旋共振（ESR）技术。BC3可能约有7万至8万年历史，BC5约有5万至6.5万年历史。BC1和BC2几乎肯定不到9万年历史。这些结果虽然比一些年龄估计要年轻，但支持了解剖学意义上现代人类在边境洞穴的早期出现。此外，我们的结果表明，豪伊森斯波特石器工业（约4.5万至7.5万年）和MSA-LSA过渡时期（约3.5万年）比通常认为的要年轻。
