The Chronological Factor in Understanding the Middle and Upper Paleolithic of Eurasia

For more than half a century, prehistorians have grappled with radiocarbon-based chronologies that are often contradictory and imprecise. Several key debates in the Paleolithic have their roots, at least partially, in basic issues of chronology. When did Neanderthals disappear? When did Homo sapiens disperse across Eurasia? How long was the overlap among several hominin groups? Without reliable time control, these questions are unanswerable, and unravelling the Paleolithic remains a distant and virtually unachievable goal. It is only recently that the extent of the problems with the application of radiocarbon dating near the limit of the method has become understood. Major challenges have arisen, ranging from inadvisable and poor selection of samples, on the one hand, to the analytical, chemical, and instrumental challenges of dating the low amounts of residual radiocarbon in these samples, on the other. Recent work has led to significant developments in the field. In this paper, we briefly review some of these developments, drawing on recent work undertaken at two sites, Bondi Cave (Georgia) and Kostenki 14 (Russia). By comparing new radiocarbon determinations against previous results, it is possible to begin to quantify quite how erroneous some of the previous chronometric models were.