Luminescence dating of Middle Stone Age deposits at Die Kelders

Luminescence dating of sediments has not been used extensively for dating Middle Stone Age deposits in South Africa, despite its potential for contributing to a poorly dated record. Such deposits at Die Kelders cave, on the southern South African coast, consist of narrow bands of occupation debris separated by thicker layers of aeolian sands containing much less evidence of occupation. Homogeneous, aeolian sediments are usually considered ideal for luminescence dating. Here we report luminescence analyses of five samples from these sands that demonstrate sufficient bleaching prior to burial to validate dating and that yield ages of about 60-70 ka, in agreement with other evidence from sedimentology, archaeology and electron spin resonance. Lack of significant differences in the ages suggests the deposits accumulated fairly rapidly during the early part of the Last Glaciation.