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| 95 | I n order to develop a chronology for the El Mirón site that is at least partially independent of temporally/culturally “diagnostic” artifacts and in order to be able to objectively correlate and compare levels both among the different excavation areas within the cave and between El Mirón and other regional sites, a major effort and financial commitment was made to date the site by the radiocarbon method. To avoid possible problems of inter-laboratory comparability, almost all the dates were processed by dr. Alexander Cherkinsky, almost all at Geochron Laboratories (GX) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After Cherkinsky moved to the Center for Applied Istotope Studies at the University of Georgia (Athens, Georgia, USA), he ran the final seven dates (UG) there, using the same rigorous pretreatment protocols (including filtering) as at Geochron. Three specific methods were used: conventional, conventional with extended radioactivity counting, and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The targets for accelerator mass spectrometry were prepared by Cherkinsky and the AMS measurements were made at a variety of accelerator facilities (notably the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory at Berkeley, California; the University of Arizona; and the University of Georgia). Seven AMS dates on bone were commissioned at the Oxford Accelerator (OxA) for red deer samples from which dNA was extracted by Professor Adrian Lister and Meirav Meiri. Between 1996 and 2011 a total of 76 radiocarbon dates were obtained from El Mirón, the largest number from any single early prehistoric site in the Cantabrian region (or probably from Spain or western Europe, for that matter). Thirty-five dates were run on wood charcoal, 1 on a grain of wheat, 38 on bone collagen, and 2 on two different fractions (bioapatite and collagen) from a single ungulate tooth. All determinations were determined to have acceptable δ13 CPdB values (ranging between ca. -20 and -28‰). All dates are expressed in radiocarbon years before Ad 1950 (i.e., BP), using the 14 C half-life of 5568 years. All but the oldest two dates (27,590 and 41,280 BP) have been calibrated according to the CALIB programs of Stuiver et al. (1998, as periodically updated), giving a range of ±1δ (one standard deviation). ChAPter siX el mirón Cave radiocarbon dates Lawrence Guy Straus and Manuel R. González Morales | 96 | Chapter Six Mousterian (1 date from the Corral, sondage W–X/ 10): 41,280±1120 BP; Early Upper Paleolithic (1 date from the Corral, sondage W–X/10): 27,580±210 BP; Solutrean (4 dates from the Corral, V/9–10, sondage W–X/10): 19.0–18.4 kya, possibly plus 1 date of 17,400±270 BP from Mid-Vestibule Level 313 that has no associated Solutrean points (18,310– 21,105 cal BC); Early (i.e., Initial, Lower, and Middle) Magdalenian (13 dates from the Cabin, 1 date from the MidVestibule , 18 dates from the Corral, 2 from the human burial area behind the engraved block, and 2 dates from the ramp and inner cave): 17–13.7 kya (18,750–14,210 cal BC); Upper Magdalenian (4 dates from the Corral, MidVestibule , and Cabin): 13–12.3 kya (13,990–12,165 cal BC); Final Magdalenian/Early Azilian (4 dates from Corral, Mid-Vestibule, and Cabin): 12–12.7 kya (12,135–11,525 cal BC); Azilian (2 dates from the ramp, 1 from the MidVestibule , and 1 from the Cabin): 10.7–10.3 kya (10,095–9820 cal BC); Mesolithic (3 dates from the Cabin): 9.6–8.4 kya (9120–7180 cal BC); Neolithic (5 dates from the Mid-Vestibule and 6 from the Cabin): 5.8–4.7 kya (4770–3370 cal BC); Chalcolithic (3 dates from the Cabin): 4.1–3.7 kya (2860–1930 cal BC); Early Bronze Age (1 date from the inner cave and 1 from the Cabin): 3.7–3.2 kya (2140–1440 cal BC); Middle Ages (1 date each from the inner cave and the Corral): 900–540 BP (cal Ad 1040–1440). There is a certain amount of circular reasoning involved in the cultural phase attributions of many levels (especially in the Magdalenian), as unambiguous “diagnostic ” artifacts (e.g., Solutrean points, Lower Magdalenian striation engraved scapulae, Upper Magdalenian harpoons, Neolithic double-bevel retouched geometic microliths, Chalcolithic arrowheads) are not always present (at least in the areas of many occupation levels that we excavated). (Even El Mirón’s ceramics are undecorated and temporally rather banal; the only diagnostic decorated [chevron incised] sherd was...

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