@article {313773,
	title = {The age of Homo naledi and associated sediments in the Rising Star Cave, South~Africa},
	journal = {eLife},
	volume = {6},
	year = {2017},
	month = {2017/05/09},
	pages = {e24231},
	abstract = {<p>New ages for flowstone, sediments and fossil bones from the Dinaledi Chamber are presented. We combined optically stimulated luminescence dating of sediments with U-Th and palaeomagnetic analyses of flowstones to establish that all sediments containing Homo naledi fossils can be allocated to a single stratigraphic entity (sub-unit 3b), interpreted to be deposited between 236 ka and 414 ka. This result has been confirmed independently by dating three H. naledi teeth with combined U-series and electron spin resonance (US-ESR) dating. Two dating scenarios for the fossils were tested by varying the assumed levels of 222Rn loss in the encasing sediments: a maximum age scenario provides an average age for the two least altered fossil teeth of 253 +82/{\textendash}70 ka, whilst a minimum age scenario yields an average age of 200 +70/{\textendash}61 ka. We consider the maximum age scenario to more closely reflect conditions in the cave, and therefore, the true age of the fossils. By combining the US-ESR maximum age estimate obtained from the teeth, with the U-Th age for the oldest flowstone overlying Homo naledi fossils, we have constrained the depositional age of Homo naledi to a period between 236 ka and 335 ka. These age results demonstrate that a morphologically primitive hominin, Homo naledi, survived into the later parts of the Pleistocene in Africa, and indicate a much younger age for the Homo naledi fossils than have previously been hypothesized based on their morphology.</p>
},
	keywords = {dating, Dinaledi Chamber, Hominin, Homo naledi, Paleoanthropology, Pleistocene},
	isbn = {2050-084X},
	doi = {https://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.24231},
	url = {https://elife.elifesciences.org/content/6/e24231},
	author = {Dirks, Paul HGM and Roberts, Eric M and Hilbert-Wolf, Hannah and Kramers, Jan D and Hawks, John and Dosseto, Anthony and Duval, Mathieu and Elliott, Marina and Evans, Mary and Gr{\"u}n, Rainer and Hellstrom, John and Herries, Andy IR and Joannes-Boyau, Renaud and Makhubela, Tebogo V and Placzek, Christa J and Robbins, Jessie and Spandler, Carl and Wiersma, Jelle and Woodhead, Jon and Berger, Lee R},
	editor = {Perry, George H}
}
