Kent's Cavern is one of Britain's most important Palaeolithic sites. The Torquay Natural History Society excavations in the Vestibule (1926–1928 and 1932–1938) yielded Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic deposits as well as a fragment of human jaw (KC4). Higham et al. (2011) recently identified it as the oldest modern human fossil known from North West Europe, with a date estimated, using Bayesian modelling, at 44,200–41,500 cal bp (at 95.4% probability). However, White and Pettitt (2012) and Zilhão (2013) have claimed that the poor quality of the excavations and lack of stratigraphic integrity cast doubt on the archaeological and dating evidence from the site. Here, we present a thorough re-analysis of the excavations and show that they were in fact conducted to a reasonable standard. We also carefully examine the stratigraphic and sedimentological sequence and present twelve new AMS determinations from key contexts to test the previous model and chronology. We find that, while Trench C has good stratigraphic integrity, there is some evidence of post-depositional disruption of certain parts; some post-depositional movement is also shown by a limited number of artefact refits. There are two outlying AMS determinations dating to c. 32,000 bp. We therefore cannot exclude completely the possibility that the maxilla's age could be younger than the published probability distribution function (PDF). Our analysis lends support to the assessment by Higham et al. (2011) of the site and KC4 and shows that it offers considerable potential for future study.

中文翻译：

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KC4 上颌骨的时代和背景，肯特洞穴，英国

肯特洞穴是英国最重要的旧石器时代遗址之一。托基自然历史学会在前庭（1926-1928 年和 1932-1938 年）的挖掘工作产生了旧石器时代中期和早期上旧石器时代的沉积物以及人类颌骨碎片（KC4）。海厄姆等人。（2011 年）最近确定它是西北欧已知的最古老的现代人类化石，使用贝叶斯模型估计的日期为 44,200–41,500 calbp（概率为 95.4%）。然而，White 和 Pettitt（2012 年）以及 Zilhão（2013 年）声称，挖掘质量低劣和地层完整性缺乏使人们对该遗址的考古和测年证据产生怀疑。在这里，我们对挖掘进行了彻底的重新分析，并表明它们实际上是按照合理的标准进行的。我们还仔细检查了地层和沉积学序列，并从关键背景中提出了十二个新的 AMS 测定，以测试以前的模型和年表。我们发现，虽然海沟 C 具有良好的地层完整性，但有一些证据表明某些部分发生了沉积后破坏；有限数量的人工制品改装也显示了一些沉积后的运动。有两个偏远的 AMS 决定可追溯到C。32,000bp. 因此，我们不能完全排除上颌骨年龄可能比公布的概率分布函数 (PDF) 更年轻的可能性。我们的分析支持 Higham 等人的评估。（2011 年）的网站和 KC4，并表明它为未来的研究提供了相当大的潜力。