Chronology of upper Pleistocene “red silts” in the Siwalik system and constraints for the timing of the upper palaeolithic in Nepal

Twelve samples extracted from silt-rich sediments in intramontane basins (“duns”) in the Siwalik system in SW Nepal were dated by thermoluminescence. The samples from the sections at Arjun and Gidhniya, which underwent intensive postdepositional rubefication, yield ages between ca. 30 and 10 ka, whereas more yellowish clayey silt on top of red soil sediments at Babai Khola was deposited as recently as 4 ka. The ages presented here are relevant to the dating of the Palaeolithic in the area and suggest a late Glacial age of the “Hoabinhian” at Arjun.