The Middle Pleistocene fluvial sequence at Uichteritz, central Germany: Chronological framework, paleoenvironmental history and early human presence during MIS 11

Abstract

The site of Uichteritz (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) is a Quaternary gravel quarry hosting several Middle-Pleistocene fluvial units of the Saale River. This fluvial archive contains detailed information on (1) the timing of Middle Pleistocene fluvial aggradation and erosion periods in the region, (2) the driving forces for those alternations, as well as (3) early human presence indicated by the presence of Lower Paleolithic stone artefacts. Here we establish a luminescence-based numerical chronology at Uichteritz. Additionally, geophysical, sedimentological and micromorphological analyses were applied to obtain information on depositional and post-depositional processes of the fluvial sequence.Our results point to several fluvial aggradation periods between ca. 420 and 180 ka. A first fluvial unit was deposited during the late Elsterian period, followed by formation of a Luvisol during MIS 11 and its fluvial reworking at the transition from MIS 11 to MIS 10 and/or during early MIS 10. These MIS 10/11 deposits, with an age of about 400 ka, also contain reworked Lower Paleolithic stone artefacts that document the initial appearance of humans in northwestern central Europe during MIS 11. After a period of fluvial incision during MIS 10, which was accompanied by a change in the course of the Saale River, several stacked fluvial sequences of the Saalian Main Terrace (SMT) formed between MIS 8 and MIS 6, mainly during cold climatic periods. Our age estimates confirm the correlation of the Elsterian ice advances with MIS 12, and the Saalian ice advances with later MIS 6.