Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-94d59 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T17:27:20.524Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

New Radiocarbon Ages of Luzia Woman, Lapa Vermelha IV Site, Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Michel Fontugne*
Affiliation:
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (UMR8212 CNRS/CEA/UVSQ), Domaine du CNRS, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France. Email: Michel.Fontugne@lsce.ipsl.fr

Abstract

Luzia woman is considered one of the oldest Paleoindian skeletons found in the Americas. Luzia was found at the Lapa Vermelha IV site (Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais, Brazil) in 1975 by the archaeologist Annette Laming-Emperaire (1917–1977) who sent to the Gif laboratory charcoals collected in the vicinity of the skeleton for radiocarbon dating. Twenty-nine charcoal samples were dated from different levels of the stratigraphy of the cave (Délibrias et al. 1986). Recently, new charcoal samples were discovered within Laming-Emperaire's correspondence and were subsequently dated by the Saclay AMS laboratory. The new results confirm the age of Luzia; however, the ages correspond to the younger part of the interval: charcoals found near Luzia's skull give an age of 10,030 ± 60 14C yr BP (11,243–11,710 cal BP).

Type
Archaeology of the Americas and Oceania
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Araujo, AGM, Neves, WA, Piló, LB, Atui, JPV. 2005. Holocene dryness and human occupation in Brazil during the “Archaic Gap.” Quaternary Research 64(3):298307.Google Scholar
Arnold, M, Bard, E, Maurice, P, Duplessy, JC. 1987. 14C dating with the Gif-sur-Yvette Tandetron accelerator: status report. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 29(1–2):635–45.Google Scholar
Arnold, M, Bard, E, Maurice, P, Valladas, H, Duplessy, JC. 1989. 14C dating with the Gif-sur-Yvette Tandetron accelerator: status report and study of isotopic fractionation in the sputter ion source. Radiocarbon 31(3):284–91.Google Scholar
Délibrias, G, Guillier, MT, Labeyrie, J. 1986. Gif natural radiocarbon measurements X. Radiocarbon 28(1):968.Google Scholar
Hatté, C, Poupeau, J-J, Tannau, J-F, Paterne, M. 2003. Development of an automated system for preparation of organic samples. Radiocarbon 45(3):421–30.Google Scholar
Hurt, WR Jr. 1960. The cultural complexes from the Lagoa Santa Region, Brazil. American Anthropologist 62(4):569–85.Google Scholar
Hurt, WR Jr. 1986. The preceramic cultures of Lagoa Santa, some observations. CLIO Archeológica 8:145–52.Google Scholar
Hurt, WR, Blasi, O. 1969. O projeto arqueológico ‘Lagoa Santa’, Minas Gerais, Brasil (nota final). Arquivos do Museu Paranaense (N.S.) Arqueologia 4:163.Google Scholar
Laming-Emperaire, A. 1976. Le plus ancien peuplement de l'Amérique. Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française 73:280–8.Google Scholar
Laming-Emperaire, A. 1979. Missions archéologiques franco-brésiliennes de Lagos Santa, Minas Gerais, Brésil - Le grand abri de Lapa Vermelha (P.L.). Revista de Pré-história 1:5389.Google Scholar
Laming-Emperaire, A, Prous, A, Moraes, AV, Beltrão, MC. 1975. Grottes et Abris de la Region de Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais, Brésil: premier rapport de la Mission archéologique franco-brésilienne de Lagoa Santa. Cahiers d'archéologie d'Amérique du Sud 1. Paris: École pratique des hautes étude. 185 p.Google Scholar
Lund, PW. 1842. Carta escripta de Lagôa Santa ao senhor primeiro secretário do Instituto. Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geogràfico Brasileiro 4:3087.Google Scholar
Lund, PW. 1844. Carta escripta de Lagoa Santa a 21 de abril de 1844. Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro 6:334–42.Google Scholar
Mello e Alvim, CM. 1977. Os antigos habitantes da área arqueológica de Lagoa Santa, MG. Arquivos do Museu Nacional de História Natural da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais 2:119–74.Google Scholar
Neves, WA, Powell, JF, Prous, A, Ozolins, EG, Blum, M. 1999. Lapa Vermelha IV hominid 1: morphological affinities of the earliest known American. Genetics and Molecular Biology 22(4):461–9.Google Scholar
Prous, A. 1980. Fouilles du grand abri de Santana do Riacho (Minas Gerais, Brésil). Journal de la Société des Américanistes 67:163–83.Google Scholar
Prous, A, Fogaça, E. 1999. Archaeology of the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary in Brazil. Quaternary International 53–54:2141.Google Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Baillie, MGL, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Bertrand, CJH, Blackwell, PG, Buck, CE, Burr, GS, Cutler, KB, Damon, PE, Edwards, RL, Fairbanks, RG, Friedrich, M, Guilderson, TP, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kromer, B, McCormac, G, Manning, S, Bronk Ramsey, C, Reimer, RW, Remmele, S, Southon, JR, Stuiver, M, Talamo, S, Taylor, FW, van der Plicht, J, Weyhenmeyer, CE. 2004. IntCal04 terrestrial radiocarbon age calibration, 0–26 cal kyr BP. Radiocarbon 46(3): 1029–58.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Polach, HA. 1977. Discussion: reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon 19(3):355–63.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Reimer, P. 1993. Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35(1):215–30.Google Scholar