 In fact, the earliest dates obtained for artifacts at the site (238,000 BP) come from thermoluminescence dating of burnt flint.The immense timespan represented by the Paleolithic artifacts at La Cotte—nearly 200,000 years—saw considerable cultural changes among the prehistoric users of the site.The earliest stone tools, dated between around 240,000 years to 200,000 BP, are fairly typical of early Middle Paleolithic sites.