DARAKI-CHATTAN ROCK ART CONSTRAINED OSL CHRONOLOGY AND MULTIANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES: A FIRST PILOT INVESTIGATION

Abstract

ABSTRACT The cave of Daraki-Chattan (in Rewa river, India) bears important palaeolithic rock art (petroglyphs), while the environs is exceptionally rich in stone tools, mostly of the Acheulian. The field survey and excavations in the area found cupule panel fragments almost down to bedrock; Acheulian industry to Oldowan-like industry including several hammerstones. Early work demonstrated that at least some of the petroglyphs were of the earliest documented occupation of the region. Exfoliated pieces and boulders from the rock surface were found in the sediments, some bearing cupules and grooves. Here a detailed methodological procedure is enacted consisting of luminescence dating reinforced by mineralogical issues, where the latter secures credibility of the former. The optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), of the luminescence versus depth profiles, following blue LED and Single Aliquot Regeneration (SAR) technique of quartz, was applied following the surface luminescence dating versions to date this fallen rock. The two dose profiles from the sandstone studies provided an average date for the fallen boulder in the 13th millennium, providing a constrained terminus post quem. Surface patina and intrusion of (Fe, Mn) aluminosilicate weathering solution was examined in both luminescence profiles, properly dealt with issues of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy- Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), X-Ray Florescence-Energy Dispersive mode (XRF/ED), Cathodoluminescence, stereomicroscope, thin sections optical microscopy (OM) and microdosimetry. Analytical petrographic results aided interpretation of luminescence data obtained. From the above rationale the two ages obtained from the two profiles can be considered close within errors, that coincide with the drastic change from last glaciation transition to the milder climate of the Holocene and the sudden end of colder Younger Dryas in ~13th Ka BP, having an impact on the weathering, erosion and exfoliation of rock surfaces caused by the significant temperature change and the resulted thermal differential expansion of rocks (onset of the Holocene).