14C-Dating of the Late Bronze Age City of Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus: Status Report

Radiocarbon ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 1253-1264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva M Wild ◽  
Peter M Fischer ◽  
Peter Steier ◽  
Teresa Bürge
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Status Report ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Southern Scandinavia ◽  
New City ◽  
The City ◽  
Vast Area ◽  
Existing Data

ABSTRACTHala Sultan Tekke is a large Bronze Age city located on the southeastern littoral of Cyprus. The city flourished from approximately 1650 BC to 1150 BC according to the archaeological evidence. Since 2010, Swedish excavations have exposed four new city quarters (CQ1–4) with three occupational phases, the 14C dating of which is of highest importance also for other contemporaneous cultures. The finds demonstrate vast intercultural connections in the Mediterranean and even with southern Scandinavia. In 2014, roughly 500 m to the east of CQ1, one of the richest cemeteries on the island was discovered. According to the archaeological evidence, the finds from the city date mainly to the 13th and 12th centuries BC. However, many of the wealthy tombs and the offering pits from the cemetery are considerably older with the oldest finds dating to the 16th century BC. This raises the question where the city quarters belonging to the oldest finds from the cemetery are situated. The radiocarbon (14C) dates from Hala Sultan Tekke have much influence on the dating of related sites because of numerous imports from a vast area. We present here new 14C data obtained in the course of the current excavations, which add to sets of already existing data.

scholarly journals Negotiating Imperialism and Resistance in Late Bronze Age Ugarit: The Rise of Alphabetic Cuneiform

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-199
Author(s):  
Philip J. Boyes
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Near East ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Writing System ◽  
East Mediterranean ◽  
Local Language ◽  
Elite Culture ◽  
Spheres Of Influence ◽  
The City

Ugarit was a highly cosmopolitan, multilingual and multiscript city at the intersection of several major Late Bronze Age political and cultural spheres of influence. In the thirteenth centurybc, the city adopted a new alphabetic cuneiform writing system in the local language for certain uses alongside the Akkadian language, script and scribal practices that were standard throughout the Near East. Previous research has seen this as ‘vernacularization’, in response to the city's encounter with Mesopotamian culture. Recent improvements in our understanding of the date of Ugarit's adoption of alphabetic cuneiform render this unlikely, and this paper instead argues that we should see this vernacularization as part of Ugarit's negotiation of, and resistance to, their encounter with Hittite imperialism. Furthermore, it stands as a specific, Ugaritian, manifestation of similar trends apparent across a number of East Mediterranean societies in response to the economic and political globalism of Late Bronze Age élite culture. As such, these changes in Ugaritian scribal practice have implications for our wider understanding of the end of the Late Bronze Age.

Grave Structures and Altars: Archaeological Traces of Bronze Age Eschatological Conceptions

1998 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Kaliff
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Burial Site ◽  
Mortuary Practice ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Southern Scandinavia ◽  
Different Types ◽  
People’S Perceptions

Mortuary practice can be interpreted as a system of rituals based on people's perceptions of life and death. There is a great deal to suggest the prehistoric find sites we usually call cemeteries also had an important function as ritual sites. Several types of structure occurring at cemeteries from the late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age in southern Scandinavia favour a broader interpretation of these sites. This article is based on the results of the excavated ritual and burial site at Ringeby in Kvillinge parish, Östergötland, an excavation which was undertaken with the express purpose of studying the archaeology of religion. The article also includes a general discussion of the concept of ‘grave’ and different types of structure which can be interpreted as places for cults.

scholarly journals Re-Evaluation of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Chronology of the Western Belgian Urnfields Based on 14C Dating of Cremated Bones

Radiocarbon ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 499-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy De Mulder ◽  
Mark van Strydonck ◽  
Mathieu Boudin ◽  
Walter Leclercq ◽  
Nicolas Paridaens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Occupational History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

The urnfields in western Belgium have been studied since the second half of the 20th century. Most of these studies, as well as the excavations themselves, date from before the last quarter of the 20th century, except for the urnfields at Velzeke and Blicquy, which were excavated recently. The chronology of these cemeteries was largely based on typochronological studies of pottery. Other funeral gifts, like bronze objects in the graves, are rather exceptional. The typochronology was worked out in a comparison with the framework of neighboring regions and central Europe. There was a need, then, for a chronology based on absolute dates. This was only possible by radiocarbon dating of the cremated bones. Tests on duplicate samples, like cremated bone in context with charcoal or 2 depositions of cremated bones within 1 urn, have shown that the results are reproducible and that there is no discrepancy between the charcoal and the cremated bone dates.The results of the 14C dating project on the cremated bones of the 2 urnfields at Velzeke and the one at Blicquy are promising. The interpretation of the occupational history of both sites at Velzeke can be revised, and the currently accepted ceramic sequence for this period needs reworking. In addition, the chronological framework of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age is open for discussion. It seems plausible that the urnfield phenomenon starts earlier in western Belgium than previously expected. These dates can also contribute to the discussion about the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age.

Toward the Reconstruction of a Sacred Landscape of the Judean Highlands

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-41
Author(s):  
Aaron A. Burke
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Sacred Landscape ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Landscape Features ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Divine Name

Abstract At least a dozen biblical toponyms for sites and landscape features in ancient Judah’s highlands bear divine name elements that were most common during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. In light of archaeological evidence from many of these sites, it is suggested that they were first settled as part of a settlement influx in the highlands during the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2000–1550 BCE), following a reemergence of urbanism and a return of economic development that occurred under Amorite aegis. The cultic orientation of these sites may be suggested by reference to ritual traditions at Mari during the Middle Bronze Age but especially Ugarit during the Late Bronze Age. Such evidence may also serve to elucidate the various enduring cultic associations that persisted in connection with these locations during the Iron Age, as preserved in various biblical traditions.

scholarly journals Chronology of the Danish Bronze Age Based on 14C Dating of Cremated Bone Remains

Radiocarbon ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesper Olsen ◽  
Karen Margrethe Hornstrup ◽  
Jan Heinemeier ◽  
Pia Bennike ◽  
Henrik Thrane
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
High Precision ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Broad Agreement ◽  
Southern Scandinavia ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
Bone Remains

The relative Bronze Age chronology for Scandinavia was established as early as 1885. It is traditionally divided into 6 periods (I–VI). Earlier attempts to make an absolute Bronze Age chronology for southern Scandinavia were derived from burials and settlements and were mainly based on radiocarbon-dated charcoal or carbonized cereals, often with undefined archaeological periods. Here, we present high-precision 14C dating on burials with well-defined associated archaeological periods in order to improve the absolute chronology of the Danish Bronze Age. Our results are in broad agreement with the traditional absolute chronology of the Danish Bronze Age. However, our results do indicate that the onset of period III likely occurred earlier than previously thought.

Is There Anybody Out There? A Reconsideration of the Environmental Evidence from the Breiddin Hillfort, Powys, Wales

2001 ◽  
Vol 81 ◽  
pp. 51-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul C Buckland ◽  
Mike Parker Pearson ◽  
Andy Wigley ◽  
Maureen A Girling
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Human Impact ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Natural Water ◽  
Water Reservoir ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Natural Pond ◽  
Evidence Of Absence

Researchers have often assumed that the Iron Age hillforts of the Welsh borders were densely occupied centres of population. One of these is the Breiddin, occupied in the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age, which was excavated in 1969–76. At its centre was a natural water reservoir, Buckbean Pond, which provided a radiocarbon dated sequence of deposition contemporary with the later prehistoric occupation of the hillfort. The beetle assemblage from these deposits was never properly studied or published due to Maureen Girling's death and, as a result, its implications for understanding the human impact on the pond's immediate environment were not fully appreciated. Despite the remains of four-post structures close to the pond and of roundhouses and associated deposits in the vicinity, both flora and insect faunas indicate a quiet natural pond with little disturbance other than casual grazing by animals. This ‘evidence of absence’ does not square with the archaeological evidence which is here interpreted as deriving from human activity which was neither permanent nor intensive.

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