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A reassessment of the age of the fauna from Cumberland Bone Cave, Maryland, (middle Pleistocene) using coupled U-series and electron spin resonance dating (ESR)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2020

Charles B. Withnell Open the ORCID record for Charles B. Withnell [Opens in a new window] ,
Renaud Joannes-Boyau Open the ORCID record for Renaud Joannes-Boyau [Opens in a new window]  and
Christopher J. Bell
Charles B. Withnell*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology and Environmental Health, Missouri Southern State University, Joplin, MO, USA Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
Renaud Joannes-Boyau
Affiliation:
Geoarchaeology and Archaeometry Research Group (GARG), Southern Cross Geoscience, Southern Cross University, East Lismore, 2480, NSW, AUS
Christopher J. Bell
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
*
*Corresponding author at: 3950 Newman Road, Department of Biology and Environmental Health, Missouri Southern State University, Joplin, MO, 64801, USA. E-mail: Withnell-C@mssu.edu (Charles B. Withnell).
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Abstract

The deposits in Cumberland Bone Cave (Allegany County, Maryland) preserved one of the most taxonomically diverse pre-radiocarbon Pleistocene faunas in the northeastern United States. The site has long been recognized as an important record of Pleistocene life in the region, but numerical age control for the fauna was never developed, and hypotheses for its age have been based upon biochronological assessments of the mammalian fauna. We used fossil teeth and preserved sediment housed in museum collections to obtain the first numerical age assessment of the fauna from Cumberland Bone Cave. Coupled U-series Electron Spin Resonance (US-ESR) was used to date fossil molars of the extinct peccary, Platygonus sp. The age estimates of two teeth gave ages of 722 ± 64 and 790 ± 53 ka. Our results are supported by previously unpublished paleomagnetic data generated by the late John Guilday, and by plotting length-width of the first molar (m1) of Ondatra (muskrats) from Cumberland Bone Cave on the chronocline of Ondatra molar evolution in North America. Our age assessments are surprisingly close to the age estimate previously proposed by Charles Repenning, who based his age on a somewhat complicated model of speciation and morphotype evolution among arvicoline rodents.

Keywords

Cumberland Bone CavePleistoceneIrvingtonianDatingESRU-seriesBiochronologyArvicolines
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 97 , September 2020 , pp. 187 - 198
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Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2020

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