Braucher R. auteur aut IRD Oslisly Richard auteur aut IRD Mesfin I. auteur aut IRD Ntoutoume P. P. auteur aut IRD Aster Team auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf reformatted digital access Discovered in 1988 by R. Oslisly and B. Peyrot, Elarmekora is a high terrace that, today, is situated 175 m above the Ogooue River in the historical complex of Elarmekora, attached to the Lope National Park in Gabon, a World Heritage site since 2007. The site yielded a small lithic assemblage, including mainly cobble artefacts embedded within the 1 m thick alluvial material. Based on geomorphological and palaeoclimatological criteria, the preliminary dating suggested an age of 400 ka. However, Elarmekora could be a key site for Atlantic Central Africa if this lithic industry can be dated absolutely. In 2018 and 2019, two field trips were organized to collect surface samples as well as samples in vertical depth profiles with the aim of measuring their in situ-produced cosmogenic nuclide (Be-10 and Al-26) content. Results suggest a surface abandonment between 730 and 620 ka ago representing a minimum age for the cobble artefacts. Concurrently, technological reappraisal of the artefacts suggests an atypical lithic industry that should, for the moment, be considered as 'undiagnostic' Earlier Stone Age. This age bracketing may be compared with a similar age range obtained for prehistoric occupations in Angola using the same approach. This age will place Elarmekora among the oldest evidence for the presence of hominins in western Central Africa and raises the question of a 'West Side Story' to early human dispersals in Africa. This article is part of the theme issue 'Tropical forests in the deep human past'. specialized cosmogenic nuclides Early Stone Age West Central Africa Elarmekora Lope national park Gabon GABON 064 112 082 377 1849 20200482 [12 ] 2022 0962-8436 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010084373 10.1098/rstb.2020.0482 0962-8436 [F B010084373] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010084373 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/2022-04/010084373.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2022-04-06 2025-02-24 fdi:010084373 fre