40Ar/39Ar and ESR/U-series dates for Guado San Nicola, Middle Pleistocene key site at the Lower/Middle Palaeolithic transition in Italy

In the present study, geochronological analyses by 40Ar/39Ar on single-crystal and ESR/U-series on teeth were performed to precise the chronological framework of the occupations. The 40Ar/39Ar data obtained securely bracket the human occupation levels at the transition between the interglacial and glacial marine isotopic stages MIS 11 (i.e. 400 ± 9 ka) and MIS 10 (i.e. 345 ± 9ka). The weighted mean age obtained from ESR/U-series dating of six teeth (i.e. 364 ± 36 ka) is in very good agreement with the 40Ar/39Ar results. The radio-isotopic constraints we presented place the Guado San Nicola site as one of the earliest testimonies of Levallois debitage in Western Europe and confirm the potential and accuracy of paleo-dosimetric methods to date Middle Pleistocene sites.