Abstract. The sedimentary sequence in Scladina Cave (Belgium) is well-known for its rich Middle Paleolithic assemblages and its numerous faunal remains. Of particular interest is the presence of a nearly complete mandible of a Neandertal child. To place all these finds in the correct chronostratigraphic context, various dating techniques have been applied over the past decades. This resulted in a reasonably well-constrained age model, roughly spanning the last glacial cycle. Age constraints of the lower part of the Scladina sequence as well as from the underlying Sous-Saint-Paul Cave were however absent until now. Previous attempts to date several speleothem layers in Scladina Cave, using U-Th dating were only partly successful, presumably because diagenetic alteration of speleothem material compromised the ages. In the present study we re-assessed U-Th dating of various speleothem levels in Scladina Cave, applying state-of-the-art U-Th dating, and carefully selecting material that experienced little to no diagenetic alteration. The new results constitute a robust age framework for the Scladina sequence, which provides precisely dated stratigraphic anchor points that improve the previous age model. Furthermore, new U-Th analyses, for speleothems from the lower part of the Scladina sequence and from the Sous-Saint-Paul sequence, document Middle Pleistocene ages, making this one of the longer fossil-rich cave sedimentary sequences in NW Europe. The new data confirm that speleothem deposition predominantly took place in periods of warmer climate, while siliciclastic sediments characterize the colder intervals. New speleothem ages further suggest that the Neandertal mandible found in the sequence, and previously placed in Marine Isotope Stage 5a or 5b, could potentially be as old as Marine Isotope Stage 5d.

中文翻译：

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改善斯克拉迪纳洞穴（比利时）考古记录的年龄限制：新的洞穴 U-Th 年龄和古气候数据

摘要。斯克拉迪纳洞穴（比利时）的沉积序列以其丰富的旧石器时代中期组合和众多的动物遗迹而闻名。特别令人感兴趣的是尼安德特儿童几乎完整的下颌骨。为了将所有这些发现置于正确的年代地层背景中，过去几十年来应用了各种测年技术。这产生了一个相当严格约束的年龄模型，大致跨越了最后一个冰河周期。然而，斯克拉迪纳序列下部以及下面的 Sous-Saint-Paul 洞穴的年龄限制到目前为止还不存在。之前曾尝试使用 U-Th 年代测定法对斯克拉迪纳洞穴中的几个洞穴层进行年代测定，但只取得了部分成功，可能是因为洞穴物质的成岩作用改变了年龄。在本研究中，我们重新评估了斯克拉迪纳洞穴中不同洞穴层的 U-Th 测年方法，应用最先进的 U-Th 测年方法，并仔细选择几乎没有或没有经历过成岩作用改变的材料。新结果为斯克拉迪纳序列构成了一个强大的年龄框架，它提供了精确测年的地层锚点，改进了之前的年龄模型。此外，新的 U-Th 对 Scladina 序列下部和 Sous-Saint-Paul 序列洞穴沉积物的分析记录了中更新世年龄，使这里成为欧洲西北部较长的富含化石的洞穴沉积序列之一。新数据证实，洞穴沉积物主要发生在气候较温暖的时期，而硅质碎屑沉积物则主要发生在气候较冷的时期。新的洞穴化石年龄进一步表明，在序列中发现的尼安德特人下颌骨，之前被置于海洋同位素第 5a 或 5b 阶段，可能与海洋同位素第 5d 阶段一样古老。