New Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) Ages Suggest a Revision of the Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) Middle Holocene Dates Obtained for a Toxodon platensis (Toxodontidae, Mammalia) from Southeast Brazil

Abstract

In a paper published in Applied Radiation and Isotopes, Baffa et al. (2000) reported a Middle Holocene date (~6.5 kyr BP) for a specimen of Toxodon platensis from Ribeira do Iguape, southeast Brazil, using the emergent technique electron spin resonance (ESR). Through an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) procedure applied on tooth collagen, we provide a new set of dates to test the accuracy of the ages generated by ESR. We obtained 2 dates more than 4500 BP older than the previous one, suggesting a minimum Late Pleistocene age for the specimen.