ESR analyses for teeth from the open-air site at Attirampakkam, India: Clues to complex U uptake and paleoenvironmental change

Abstract

In open-air sites, diagenetic alteration makes teeth difficult to analyze with electron spin resonance (ESR). Despite strong diagenetic alteration, three ungulate teeth from Pleistocene fluvial sediment in the open-air Paleolithic site at Attirampakkam, Tamil Nadu, India, were analyzed using standard and isochron ESR. Diagenetic alteration features in two teeth indicated rapid submergence in quiet saline to hypersaline water, following a short subaerial exposure, while the third remained constantly buried under reducing conditions. Geochemical signatures and ESR data all indicate that the teeth experienced at least three independent U uptake events during diagenesis, including two that occurred long after burial.