scholarly journals The Chronology of the Ghassulian Chalcolithic Period in the Southern Levant: New14C Determinations from Teleilat Ghassul, Jordan

Radiocarbon ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 1217-1222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Bourke ◽  
Ewan Lawson ◽  
Jaimie Lovell ◽  
Quan Hua ◽  
Ugo Zoppi ◽  
...  

This article reports on ten new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates from the Chalcolithic period (fifth millennium BC) archaeological type-site of Teleilat Ghassul in Jordan. Early radiocarbon assays from the site proved difficult to integrate with current relative chronological formulations. The ten new AMS dates and follow-up enquiries connected with the early assays suggest that the original dates were up to 500 years too early. A necessary reformulation of regional relative chronologies now views the Ghassul sequence falling between Late Neolithic Jericho and the Beersheban Chalcolithic.

Radiocarbon ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 315-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Bourke ◽  
Ugo Zoppi ◽  
John Meadows ◽  
Quan Hua ◽  
Samantha Gibbins

This article reports on 12 new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates from the latest phases of the Chalcolithic period occupation (late 5th millennium cal BC) at Teleilat Ghassul, type site for the south Levantine Ghassulian Chalcolithic culture. The new AMS dates from Teleilat Ghassul favor an amendment to a previous suggestion (Bourke et al. 2001), that all significant occupation at the site had ceased by 4000/3900 cal BC. This end-date should now be amended to 3900/3800 cal BC. Follow-up statistical modelling sourced to published 14C data drawn from a wide selection of south Levantine Chalcolithic period sites (Bourke 2001; Burton and Levy 2001) raises the possibility that Chalcolithic period occupation had ceased at virtually all major centers by 3800/3700 cal BC. This, in turn, suggests that the new data bearing on the end-date for occupation at Teleilat Ghassul may reflect a more widespread horizon of abandonment in the southern Levant.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 243-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey V Poliakov ◽  
Svetlana V Svyatko ◽  
Nadezhda F Stepanova

ABSTRACTThis article provides a summary and in-depth analysis of all existing radiocarbon (14C) dates for the Afanasyevo Culture of the Paleometal period. The previous “long” chronology of the culture was widely criticized and contradicted many archaeological observations. The exceedingly wide ranges of the liquid scintillation counting (LSC) dates from bone samples produced in several laboratories and the systematically older ages for the wood/charcoal samples finally reveal the shortcomings of the conventional “long” chronology. From accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), the Afanasyevo burials of the Altai are dated to the 31st–29th century BC, whereas those of the Middle Yenisei Region to the 29th–25th century BC, which confirms the relatively earlier age of the Altai monuments. The “short” chronology removes the incompatibility of deriving the Afanasyevo Culture from the Yamnaya Culture, which previously appeared “younger” than the Afanasyevo, and also contradictions with the archaeological data. It also explains the small number of sites, the small size of the cemeteries and the lack of the internal periodization. We can now clearly move, from the earlier understanding that the Afanasyevo chronology is too broad, towards a different perception. The new AMS dates only represent a “core” for the Afanasyevo chronology, which cannot be narrowed down, but could be slightly expanded over time.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 905-913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Bourke ◽  
Ugo Zoppi ◽  
John Meadows ◽  
Quan Hua ◽  
Samantha Gibbins

This article reports on 10 new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates from early phases of the Early Bronze Age at the long-lived settlement of Pella (modern Tabaqat Fahl) in the north Jordan Valley. The new AMS dates fall between 3400 and 2800 cal BC, and support a recent suggestion that all Chalcolithic period occupation had ceased by 3800/3700 cal BC at the latest (Bourke et al. 2004b). Other recently published Early Bronze Age14C data strongly supports this revisionist scenario, suggesting that the earliest phase of the Early Bronze Age (EBA I) occupied much of the 4th millennium cal BC (3800/3700 to 3100/3000 cal BC). As this EB I period in the Jordan Valley is generally viewed as the key precursor phase in the development of urbanism (Joffe 1993), this revisionist chronology has potentially radical significance for understanding both the nature and speed of the move from village settlement towards a complex urban lifeway.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 1341-1349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J Bae ◽  
Kidong Bae ◽  
Jong Chan Kim

In Korean Paleolithic archaeology, it is traditionally thought that the Late Paleolithic stone tool industries were in some way derived from the Shuidonggou site in northern China. The latter site has long been considered to be the type site of the eastern Asian Late Paleolithic blade technology. However, recent studies suggest that a number of Korean Late Paleolithic sites probably predate Shuidonggou, some by several thousands of years. Here, we present a series of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates recently analyzed by the AMS laboratory at Seoul National University and discuss further the possibility that the introduction of blade (and later microblade) technologies into Korea may have originated directly from Mongolia, Siberia, and possibly other areas of northeast China, rather than from Shuidonggou.


1994 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 490-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Riley ◽  
Gregory R. Walz ◽  
Charles J. Bareis ◽  
Andrew C. Fortier ◽  
Kathryn E. Parker

Two accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates obtained from samples of Zea mays from the Holding site, 11MS118, in the American Bottom near East St. Louis, Illinois, establish the presence of maize in the Mississippi Valley between 170 B.C. and A.D. 60. The dates finally establish the occurrence of Middle Woodland maize in Illinois and are the earliest dates thus far for maize east of the Mississippi River. Other reports of early Middle Woodland maize in the Midcontinent region should not be discounted unless AMS dating and other supporting information show the maize to be a contaminant at the site at which it occurs. Recent stable carbon-isotope experiments suggest that the relative contribution of maize to Middle Woodland diets is still an open question.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 813-822 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mina Weinstein-Evron ◽  
Reuven Yeshurun ◽  
Daniel Kaufman ◽  
Eileen Eckmeier ◽  
Elisabetta Boaretto

The Natufian culture of the southern Levant played an integral role in the transition from simple huntergatherers to food-producing societies of the Neolithic, but the major Natufian hamlets are currently poorly dated. Moreover, none of these complex, continuously occupied base camps have delivered an adequate number of dates to enable an in-depth delineation of intra-Natufian developments. This paper presents the first results of our dating program at el-Wad terrace, Mount Carmel (Israel), one of the major Natufian hamlets of the “core area” of this culture. Thirteen accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon age determinations were obtained from 46 bone (both ungulate and human) and charcoal samples, originating in Early Natufian living surfaces, dwellings, and burials. The obtained dates are largely in agreement with the cultural affiliation of the samples (13–15 kyr cal BP). Two series of dates from different locations show good agreement with the stratigraphy. The ages of the burials clearly point to their being younger than the living surfaces seemingly associated with them. Presently, no burials may be linked with the major architectural phase of Early Natufian el-Wad. Our ongoing dating program and the processing of additional samples from refined contexts will help shed important light on the initial phases of the Natufian culture, habitation duration, intensity, and continuity, as well as the relationships between site features and stratigraphy.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 629-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gytis Piličiauskas ◽  
Mika Lavento ◽  
Markku Oinonen ◽  
Gytis Grižas

Twenty-three samples of charred food remains, charcoal, burned animals, and human bones from 14 Lithuanian prehistoric sites were dated by radiocarbon as part of a dating project oriented towards renewing the prehistoric ceramics chronology. The new dates modified the dating of ceramic styles by hundreds to a thousand years. Three Textile Ware sherds were dated to 4230–2920 cal BC—the oldest known dates of Textile Ware pottery in the East Baltic. The organic-tempered pointed-bottomed Narva and Combed-like Wares were dated to 3970–3370 cal BC, while Bay Coast Ware (Haffküstenkultur, Rzucewo), including vessels decorated with cord impressions, were dated to 3940–3540 cal BC, i.e. to a period well preceding the Corded Ware/Battle Axe horizon in Europe. Three dates of Globular Amphorae Ware placed the phenomenon directly beyond the Bay Coast chronology, i.e. in 3450–2920 cal BC. Chamotte-tempered Corded Ware from SE Lithuania was dated to 2840–2570 cal BC. The first absolute dating of coarse ware of the Žalioji type pointed to a period of 760–515 cal BC instead of the previously assumed 2nd millennium cal BC. Cremated human bones from urns found at Paveisininkai, Kernavė, and Naudvaris cemeteries were dated to 790–380 cal BC. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates obtained from charred food remains should be treated with a certain caution due to a possible freshwater reservoir effect that has not yet been examined in Lithuania.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (2A) ◽  
pp. 239-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
G M Santos ◽  
M I Bird ◽  
B Pillans ◽  
L K Fifield ◽  
B V Alloway ◽  
...  

We compare radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) ages of wood samples subjected to a conventional acid-base-acid pretreatment with stepped combustion (ABA-SC) with results from the same samples subjected to an acid-base-wet oxidation pretreatment with stepped combustion (ABOX-SC) and cellulose extraction with stepped combustion (CE-SC). The ABOX-SC procedure has been shown previously to lead to lower backgrounds for old charcoal samples. Analyses of relatively uncontaminated “14C-dead” samples of wood suggest that backgrounds of 0.11 ± 0.04 pMC are obtainable for both the ABOX-SC and ABA-SC procedures. Where wood is significantly contaminated the ABOX-SC technique provides significantly better decontamination than either the ABA-SC technique or cellulose extraction alone, although CE-SC can produce comparably low backgrounds to the ABOX-SC procedure.We also report the application of the ABOX-SC, ABA-SC and CE-SC procedures to wood samples associated with the chronologically controversial Rotoehu Ash eruption, New Zealand. New 14C-AMS dates from wood sampled from below the Rotoehu Ash span an age range of 43–50 ka BP consistent with recently presented OSL dates of 42–44 ka obtained for palaeosols beneath the ash.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 755-763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirjana Roksandic ◽  
William Mark Buhay ◽  
Yadira Chinique de Armas ◽  
Roberto Rodríguez Suárez ◽  
Matthew C Peros ◽  
...  

Twelve accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates from the shell-matrix site of Canímar Abajo (Matanzas, Cuba) are reported. Eleven were obtained directly from human bone collagen in burials and one was obtained from charcoal recovered from a burial context. The site stratigraphy presents two episodes of burial activity separated by a shell midden layer. The AMS dates fall into two compact clusters that correlate remarkably well with the stratigraphy. The older burial dates to between 1380–800 cal BC (2σ) and the younger one to between cal AD 360–950 (2σ). The AMS dates are compared to eight conventional 14C dates previously obtained on shell and charcoal. One of the conventional dates on charcoal (5480–5380 cal BC; 2σ) has been reported as the oldest 14C date in the Caribbean region; its context and reliability are clarified. The suite of AMS dates provides one of the most reliable chronometric dating of a cultural context during this timeframe in Cuba. The correlation of 14C and stratigraphy establishes a solid chronology for investigating the important economic and ritual features of Canímar Abajo.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soren Blau ◽  
Vadim Yagodin

Recent osteological analyses of archaeological human skeletal remains from the Ust'-Yurt Plateau, Uzbekistan, provided the opportunity to obtain samples for radiocarbon dating. The results of 18 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates are presented in this paper and provide the first absolute dates for late prehistoric and early historic archaeological sites in Uzbekistan. The AMS dates suggest that most sites are earlier than have been traditionally thought based on relative dating using artifact typologies.


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