Chronostratigraphic context for artefact-bearing palaeosols in Late Pleistocene Tamala Limestone, Rottnest Island, Western Australia.

This paper presents absolute dates for artefact-bearing palaeosols intercalated with Tamala Limestone aeolianite successions on Rottnest Island (Wadjemup), Western Australia. The absolute chronology for the sub-aerial part of the island’s constituent Tamala Limestone is based on 20 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), two thermoluminescence (TL) age estimates, one U-series assay and three radiocarbon dates. The oldest of these estimates is an OSL age of 140 ± 14 ka at Fairbridge Bluff for the aeoliniate beneath the Rottnest Limestone member – a marine member of the Tamala Limestone succession. The palaeosols range in age from 49 to 10 ka. These age estimates provide, for the first time, a chronostratigraphic context for the isolated archaeological finds on the island as well as contributing to the timing and nature of late Quaternary sequences within the Tamala Limestone of the Perth Basin.