Using multiple chronometers to establish a long, directly-dated lacustrine record: Constraining >600,000 years of environmental change at Chew Bahir, Ethiopia
Authors
Helen M.Robertsa,Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Melissa S.Chapot, Alan L.Deino, ChristineS.Lane, CélineVidal, Asfawossen Asrat, AndrewCohen, Verena Foerster, Henry F.Lamb, FrankSchäbitz, Martin H.Trauth, Finn A.Viehberg
Abstract
Despite eastern Africa being a key location in the emergence of Homo sapiens and their subsequent dispersal out of Africa, there is a paucity of long, well-dated climate records in the region to contextualize this history. To address this issue, we dated a ∼293 m long composite sediment core from Chew Bahir, south Ethiopia, using three independent chronometers (radiocarbon, 40Ar/39Ar, and optically stimulated luminescence) combined with geochemical correlation to a known-age tephra. The site is located in a climatically sensitive region ...
