TY - JOUR A1 - Hering, Fabio A1 - Stinnesbeck, Wolfgang A1 - Folmeister, Jens A1 - Frey, Eberhard A1 - Stinnesbeck, Sarah A1 - Aviles, Jeronimo A1 - Nunez, Eugenio Aceves A1 - Gonzalez, Arturo A1 - Mata, Alejandro Terrazas A1 - Benavente, Martha Elena A1 - Rojas, Carmen A1 - Morlet, Adriana Velazquez A1 - Frank, Norbert A1 - Zell, Patrick A1 - Becker, Julia T1 - The Chan Hol cave near Tulum (Quintana Roo, Mexico) BT - evidence for long-lasting human presence during the early to middle Holocene JF - Journal of quaternary science N2 - Numerous charcoal accumulations discovered in the submerged Chan Hol cave near Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico, have been C-14-dated revealing ages between 8110 +/- 28 C-14 a BP (9122-8999 cal a BP) and 7177 +/- 27 C-14 a BP (8027-7951 cal a BP). These charcoal concentrations, interpreted here as ancient illumination sites, provide strong evidence that the Chan Hol cave was dry and accessible during that time interval. Humans used the cave for at least 1200 years during the early and middle Holocene, before access was successively interrupted by global sea level rise and flooding of the cave system. Our data thus narrow the gap between an early settlement in the Tulum area reaching from the late Pleistocene (similar to 13 000 a) to middle Holocene (e.g. 7177 C-14 a BP), and the Maya Formative period at approximately 3000 a bp. Yet, no evidence has been presented to date for human settlement during the similar to 4000-year interval between 7000 and 3000 a. This is remarkable as settlement in other areas of south-eastern Mexico (e.g. Chiapas, Tabasco) and in Guatemala was apparently continuous. KW - charcoal KW - early Holocene KW - human settlement KW - pre-Maya settlement KW - sea level rise KW - submerged cave KW - Yucatan Peninsula Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3025 SN - 0267-8179 SN - 1099-1417 VL - 33 IS - 4 SP - 444 EP - 454 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stinnesbeck, Wolfgang A1 - Becker, Julia A1 - Hering, Fabio A1 - Frey, Eberhard A1 - Gonzalez Gonzalez, Arturo A1 - Fohlmeister, Jens Bernd A1 - Stinnesbeck, Sarah A1 - Frank, Norbert A1 - Terrazas Mata, Alejandro A1 - Elena Benavente, Martha A1 - Aviles Olguin, Jeronimo A1 - Aceves Nunez, Eugenio A1 - Zell, Patrick A1 - Deininger, Michael T1 - The earliest settlers of Mesoamerica date back to the late Pleistocene JF - PLoS one N2 - Preceramic human skeletal remains preserved in submerged caves near Tulum in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, reveal conflicting results regarding C-14 dating. Here we use U-series techniques for dating a stalagmite overgrowing the pelvis of a human skeleton discovered in the submerged Chan Hol cave. The oldest closed system U/Th age comes from around 21 mm above the pelvis defining the terminus ante quem for the pelvis to 11311 +/- 370 y BP. However, the skeleton might be considerable older, probably as old as 13 ky BP as indicated by the speleothem stable isotope data. The Chan Hol individual confirms a late Pleistocene settling of Mesoamerica and represents one of the oldest human osteological remains in America. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183345 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 12 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER -