Causal links between Nile floods and eastern Mediterranean sapropel formation during the past 125 kyr confirmed by OSL and radiocarbon dating of Blue and White Nile sediments

ABSTRACT Leather has been produced by a variety of methods throughout human history, providing researchers unique insight into multiple facets of social and economic life in the past. Archaeologically recovered leather is often fragile and poorly preserved, leading to the use of various conservation and restoration efforts that may include the application of fats, oils, or waxes. Such additives introduce exogenous carbon to the leather, contaminating the specimen. These contaminants, in addition to those accumulated during interment, must be removed through chemical pretreatment prior to radiocarbon (14C) dating to ensure accurate dating. DirectAMS utilizes organic solvents, acid-base-acid (ABA) and gelatinization for all leather samples. Collagen yield from leather samples is variable due to the method of production and the quality of preservation. However, evaluating the acid-soluble collagen fraction, when available, provides the most accurate 14C dates for leather samples. In instances where gelatinization does not yield sufficient material, the resulting acid-insoluble fraction may be dated. Here we examine the effectiveness of the combined organic solvent and ABA pretreatment with gelatinization for leather samples, as well as the suitability of the acid-insoluble fraction for 14C dating.

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New Book Chronicle

Antiquity ◽

10.15184/aqy.2017.175 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 91 (359) ◽

pp. 1401-1411

Author(s):

Robert Witcher

Keyword(s):

Material Culture ◽

North Africa ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Trade Agreements ◽

Technology Change ◽

Belt And Road Initiative ◽

The Past ◽

Transfer Of Technology ◽

Belt And Road ◽

New Phase

Is the era of globalisation on the wane or on the cusp of a new phase of extraordinary expansion? US president Trump's abandonment of trade agreements and the rise of protectionism coincide with China's ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, an unprecedented investment in infrastructure across Asia, Europe and North Africa to improve the connectivity of China with its markets by both land and sea. The future is therefore anyone's guess, but what about the past? There has been much discussion by archaeologists about ancient globalisations (most recently, Hodos 2017), but archaeological studies have often typically been set within the looser framework of ‘connectivity’—the interconnectedness of people and places and the movement of material culture and ideas. The books reviewed here are concerned with various aspects of connectivity, focusing on the Eastern Mediterranean and its European hinterland. All of the volumes are edited collections, each adopting a different unifying theme—the influence of Braudel, a single country as microcosm, the transfer of technology, changevstradition, and the effects of boundaries and frontiers. Do any wider insights into connectivity in the past emerge? And where might archaeological studies of connectivity go next?

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Radiocarbon Dating of Calcined Bones: Where Does the Carbon Come from?

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/s0033822200055958 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 51 (2) ◽

pp. 601-611 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

A Zazzo ◽

J-F Saliège ◽

A Person ◽

H Boucher

Keyword(s):

Radiocarbon Dating ◽

Tooth Enamel ◽

Skeletal Remains ◽

Archaeological Sites ◽

Carbonate Content ◽

The Past ◽

Mineral Fraction ◽

Different Temperatures ◽

C Value ◽

Paleodietary Reconstruction

Over the past decade, radiocarbon dating of the carbonate contained in the mineral fraction of calcined bones has emerged as a viable alternative to dating skeletal remains in situations where collagen is no longer present. However, anomalously low δ13C values have been reported for calcined bones, suggesting that the mineral fraction of bone is altered. Therefore, exchange with other sources of carbon during heating cannot be excluded. Here, we report new results from analyses on cremated bones found in archaeological sites in Africa and the Near East, as well as the results of several experiments aiming at improving our understanding of the fate of mineral and organic carbon of bone during heating. Heating of modern bone was carried out at different temperatures, for different durations, and under natural and controlled conditions, and the evolution of several parameters (weight, color, %C, %N, δ13C value, carbonate content, crystallinity indexes measured by XRD and FTIR) was monitored. Results from archaeological sites confirm that calcined bones are unreliable for paleoenvironmental and paleodietary reconstruction using stable isotopes. Experimental results suggest that the carbon remaining in bone after cremation likely comes from the original inorganic pool, highly fractionated due to rapid recrystallization. Therefore, its reliability for 14C dating should be seen as close to that of tooth enamel, due to crystallographic properties of calcined bones.

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Middle-to late Holocene environmental changes based on a multi-proxy lagoonal record, Klisova lagoon, Greece

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14754 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alexandros Emmanouilidis ◽

Konstantinos Panagiotopoulos ◽

Katerina Kouli ◽

Pavlos Avramidis

Keyword(s):

Radiocarbon Dating ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Anthropogenic Activities ◽

Eastern Mediterranean Region ◽

Anthropogenic Activity ◽

Palynological Analysis ◽

Drilling Site ◽

Geomorphological Changes ◽

Shallow Water Depth

<p>Coastal wetlands are dynamic environments prone to climatic and anthropogenic forcing and ideal settings to study past climatic and environmental changes.&#160; In the eastern Mediterranean region and particularly in Greece, the climate presents high spatiotemporal diversity, while human activity is a significant factor in shaping the landscape. This study presents a sediment record from Klisova lagoon, situated in central Greece, at the eastern part of Messolonghi lagoon complex. The area is recorded from antiquity to have great anthropogenic activity. The paleoenvironmental synthesis was based on standard sedimentological analysis (grain size, TOC, magnetic susceptibility), joint micropaleontological and palynological analysis, X-ray Fluorescence scanning, and radiocarbon dating. The Bayesian age-depth model is based on radiocarbon dating and yields an age of 4700 cal BP for the base of the recovered sediment sequence. For the last 4700 years, the freshwater influx, the progradation of the Evinos river delta and related geomorphological changes control the environmental conditions (e.g. depth and salinity) in the lagoon system. Prior to 4000 cal BP, a relatively shallow water depth, significant terrestrial/freshwater input and increased weathering in the lagoon area are inferred. Elemental proxies and increased dinoflagellate and foraminifera abundances, which indicate marine conditions with prominent freshwater influxes, point to the gradual deepening of the lagoon recorded at the drilling site up to 2000 cal BP. The marine and freshwater conditions equilibrium sets at 1300 cal BP, and the lagoonal system seems to reach its present state. Maxima of anthropogenic pollen indicators during the Mycenaean (~3200 cal BP), Hellenistic (~ 2200 cal BP) and Late Byzantine (~ 800 cal BP) periods suggest intervals of increased anthropogenic activities in the study area. &#160;</p>

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Climate and environmental context of the Mongol invasion of Syria and defeat at ‘Ayn Jālūt (1258–1260 CE)

Erdkunde ◽

10.3112/erdkunde.2021.02.02 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 75 (2) ◽

pp. 87-104

Author(s):

Nicola Di Cosmo ◽

Sebastian Wagner ◽

Ulf Büntgen

Keyword(s):

Strategic Alliances ◽

Turning Point ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Environmental Variability ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

The Caucasus ◽

Mountainous Regions ◽

The Past ◽

Climate Reconstructions

After a successful conquest of large parts of Syria in 1258 and 1259 CE, the Mongol army lost the battle of 'Ayn Jālūt against Mamluks on September 3, 1260 CE. Recognized as a turning point in world history, their sudden defeat triggered the reconfiguration of strategic alliances and geopolitical power not only in the Middle East, but also across much of Eurasia. Despite decades of research, scholars have not yet reached consensus over the causes of the Mongol reverse. Here, we revisit previous arguments in light of climate and environmental changes in the aftermath of one the largest volcanic forcings in the past 2500 years, the Samalas eruption ~1257 CE. Regional tree ring-based climate reconstructions and state-of-the-art Earth System Model simulations reveal cooler and wetter conditions from spring 1258 to autumn 1259 CE for the eastern Mediterranean/Arabian region. We therefore hypothesize that the post-Samalas climate anomaly and associated environmental variability affected an estimated 120,000 Mongol soldiers and up to half a million of their horses during the conquest. More specifically, we argue that colder and wetter climates in 1258 and 1259 CE, while complicating and slowing the campaign in certain areas, such as the mountainous regions in the Caucasus and Anatolia, also facilitated the assault on Syria between January and March 1260. A return to warmer and dryer conditions in the summer of 1260 CE, however, likely reduced the regional carrying capacity and may therefore have forced a mass withdrawal of the Mongols from the region that contributed to the Mamluks’ victory. In pointing to a distinct environmental dependency of the Mongols, we offer a new explanation of their defeat at 'Ayn Jālūt, which effectively halted the further expansion of the largest ever land-based empire.

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The Integration of Radiocarbon Dating in Archaeology

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/s0033822200005956 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 639-644 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

H T Waterbolk

Keyword(s):

Radiocarbon Dating ◽

The Other ◽

New Method ◽

Time Range ◽

Traditional Methods ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

Fully Integrated ◽

Expected Time ◽

The Past

In the past 30 years many hundreds of archaeologic samples have been dated by radiocarbon laboratories. Yet, one cannot say that 14C dating is fully integrated into archaeology. For many archaeologists, a 14C date is an outside expertise, for which they are grateful, when it provides the answer to an otherwise insoluble chronologic problem and when it falls within the expected time range. But if a 14C date contradicts other chronologic evidence, they often find the ‘solution’ inexplicable. Some archaeologists are so impressed by the new method, that they neglect the other evidence; others simply reject problematic 14C dates as archaeologically unacceptable. Frequently, excavation reports are provided with an appendix listing the relevant 14C dates with little or no discussion of their implication. It is rare, indeed, to see in archaeologic reports a careful weighing of the various types of chronologic evidence. Yet, this is precisely what the archaeologist is accustomed to do with the evidence from his traditional methods for building up a chronology: typology and stratigraphy. Why should he not be able to include radiocarbon dates in the same way in his considerations?

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The Medina Wrench: a key to the kinematics of the central and eastern Mediterranean over the past 5 Ma

Earth and Planetary Science Letters ◽

10.1016/0012-821x(87)90109-9 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 82 (1-2) ◽

pp. 87-106 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

D. Jongsma ◽

J.M. Woodside ◽

G.C.P. King ◽

J.E. van Hinte

Keyword(s):

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

The Past

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Freshwater Reservoir Effect Variability in Northern Germany

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/s0033822200048001 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 55 (3) ◽

pp. 1085-1101 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Bente Philippsen ◽

Jan Heinemeier

Keyword(s):

Radiocarbon Dating ◽

Potential Problem ◽

Northern Germany ◽

Reservoir Effect ◽

The Past ◽

Human Bones ◽

Age Correction ◽

Order Of Magnitude ◽

Freshwater Reservoir ◽

Reservoir Age

The freshwater reservoir effect is a potential problem when radiocarbon dating fish bones, shells, human bones, or food crusts on pottery from sites near rivers or lakes. The reservoir age in hardwater rivers can be up to several thousand years and may be highly variable. Accurate 14C dating of freshwater-based samples requires knowing the order of magnitude of the reservoir effect and its degree of variability. Measurements on modern riverine materials may not give a single reservoir age correction that can be applied to archaeological samples, but they show the order of magnitude and variability that can also be expected for the past. This knowledge will be applied to the dating of food crusts on pottery from the Mesolithic sites Kayhude at the Alster River and Schlamersdorf at the Trave River, both in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany.

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Rethinking of Turkey’s Geopolitics together with Eastern Mediterranean. Turkish Perspective

Kwartalnik "Bellona" ◽

10.5604/01.3001.0015.0340 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 705 (2) ◽

pp. 45-66

Author(s):

Arıboğan Deniz Ülke ◽

Ibrahim Arslan

Keyword(s):

Middle East ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

International System ◽

The United States ◽

The Past ◽

Humanitarian Interventions ◽

The Us ◽

Transportation Accessibility ◽

The Eu

In the studies carried out within the scope of geopolitical discipline, the expression "geography is destiny" is frequently used and it is claimed that geography has unchangeable, irreversible qualities and the policies implemented are shaped through this assumption. This assumption ignores the humanitarian interventions over the geography and makes it difficult to understand the results produced by these interventions at both regional and global level. Similarly, the dynamic nature of international relations reveals new actors in the international system in times of bounce and collapse, and the borders that expand or narrow with each transformation can differentiate the geopolitical view with new sovereign countries. In the historical process, transportation accessibility, trade, search for raw materials, security and alliance relations have caused the same geography to be interpreted differently in different periods. This situation also applies to the geography of Turkey had been the homeland of empires. The developments in the Middle East over the past two decades has created a sensitivity in the relations between Turkey and the West, especially the United States. Competing interests with the EU and the US in the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean, has necessitated a reassessment of Turkey's geography.

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