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  -