New radiometric ages for the BH-1 hominin from Balanica (Serbia): implications for understanding the role of the Balkans in Middle Pleistocene human evolution

Abstract

Newly obtained ages, based on electron spin resonance combined with uranium series isotopic analysis, and infrared/post-infrared luminescence dating, provide a minimum age that lies between 397 and 525 ka for the hominin mandible BH-1 from Mala Balanica cave, Serbia. This confirms it as the easternmost hominin specimen in Europe dated to the Middle Pleistocene. Inferences drawn from the morphology of the mandible BH-1 place it outside currently observed variation of European Homo heidelbergensis. The lack of derived Neandertal traits in BH-1 and its contemporary specimens in Southeast Europe, such as Kocabaş, Vasogliano and Ceprano, coupled with Middle Pleistocene synapomorphies, suggests different evolutionary forces acting in the east of the continent where isolation did not play such an important role during glaciations.

Figure 1. Location of the site and the distribution of samples in the cave.

Upper left panel: location of Mala Balanica in southwestern Europe. Right panel: plan of Mala Balanica indicating excavated areas superimposed on the excavation grid square identifiers (D, E, F, 17, 18, 19), and locations of dated teeth, sediment, and speleothem samples, and in-situ gamma measurement locations (GAM). Note position of northern profile here (in blue), which is depicted in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Vertical distribution of the samples on the northern profile.

Northern (southwest-facing) profile as shown in Figure 1. Limestone gravel is shown schematically to represent physical arrangement of the coarse components with the fine-grained sediment matrix (white). Geological layers (GH) are shown (encircled numbers), and the locations of dated sediment, teeth and speleothem samples as a function of depth, except MABA 1A which projects outside the limit of the profile. The speleothem was found in layer 3a as shown here diagrammatically, but the dating sample was recovered from near the eastern profile as shown in Figure 1. GAM means location of gamma spectrometer measurement.