scholarly journals The Minoan Santorini Eruption and Tsunami Deposits in Palaikastro (Crete): Dating by Geology, Archaeology, 14C, and Egyptian Chronology

Radiocarbon ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 397-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendrik J Bruins ◽  
Johannes van der Plicht ◽  
J Alexander MacGillivray
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Nile Delta ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean Region ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Tsunami Deposits ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Airborne Deposition

Deposits from the Minoan Santorini (Thera) eruption in the eastern Mediterranean region constitute the most important regional stratigraphic marker in the chronological perplexity of the 2nd millennium BCE. Extensive tsunami deposits were discovered in Crete at the Minoan archaeological site of Palaikastro, containing reworked volcanic Santorini ash. Hence, airborne deposition of volcanic ash, probably during the 1st (Plinian) eruption phase, preceded the tsunami, which was apparently generated during the 3rd or 4th phase of the eruption, based on evidence from Thera. Average radiocarbon dates (uncalibrated) of animal bones in the Palaikastro tsunami deposits along the coast (3350 ± 25 BP) and at the inland archaeological site (3352 ± 23 BP) are astoundingly similar to the average 14C date for the Minoan Santorini eruption at Akrotiri on Thera (3350 ± 10 BP). The wiggle-matched 14C date of the eruption in calendar years is 1627–1600 cal BCE. Late Minoan IA pottery is the youngest element in the Palaikastro tsunami deposits, fitting with the LM IA archaeological date for the Santorini eruption, conventionally linked at ~1500 BCE with Dynasty XVIII of the historical Egyptian chronology. The reasons for the discrepancy of 100–150 yr between 14C dating and Egyptian chronology for part of the 2nd millennium BCE are unknown. 14C dates from Tell el-Dabca in the eastern Nile Delta show that the 14C age of the Santorini eruption matches with 14C results from 18th Dynasty strata C3 and C2, thereby confirming grosso modo the conventional archaeo-historical correlations between the Aegean and Egypt. We propose that a dual dating system is used in parallel: (1) archaeological material-cultural correlations linked to Egyptian chronology; (2) 14C dating. Mixing of dates from the 2 systems may lead to erroneous archaeological and historical correlations. A “calibration curve” should be established between Egyptian chronology and 14C dating for the 2nd millennium BCE, which may also assist to resolve the cause of the discrepancy.

Matching Data: Analyzing the Chronological Use Sequence in the Iron Age Necropolis of the Staggered Turriform of Son Ferrer (Balearic Islands, Spain)

Radiocarbon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (02) ◽  
pp. 361-374
Author(s):  
Manuel Calvo Trias ◽  
Jaume García Rosselló ◽  
David Javaloyas Molina ◽  
Daniel Albero Santacreu ◽  
Mark Van Strydonck
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Space Management ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Management Processes ◽  
Excavation Process

The Son Ferrer archaeological site presents a series of successive occupations spanning a long period of time. At the beginning of the Iron Age (∼850 BC), a staggered turriform structure was built for a ritual purpose over an artificial hypogeum that had already been used as a collective necropolis during the Early Bronze Age (∼1800–1500 BC). Later, in the post-Talayotic phase (Second Iron Age, 550–123 BC), the hypogeum was again reused as a collective burial place. The present work is focused on the chronological and functional analysis of this last phase, which began ∼500 BC and ended ∼180 BC with the saturation and sealing of the hypogeum. The excavation process revealed that significant removal of archaeological material has occurred as a result of complex funerary space management practices, which generated a secondary archaeological context. Given this situation, and in order to establish the different use phases of the post-Talayotic necropolis, a dual strategy of excavation and research was implemented. First, an extensive series of radiocarbon dates on human remains (18 dates) was obtained, which were later analyzed following Bayesian strategies. Second, a detailed spatial analysis was carried out, georeferencing the location of all the archaeological finds. This strategy allowed the reconstruction of the space management processes and movement patterns that took place in the burial space. Despite some initial difficulties, the combination of these research strategies embedded in a contextual analysis provided both material and chronological references that have contributed to define the various use phases of the hypogeum.

Matching Data: Analyzing the Chronological Use Sequence in the Iron Age Necropolis of the Staggered Turriform of Son Ferrer (Balearic Islands, Spain)

Radiocarbon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Calvo Trias ◽  
Jaume García Rosselló ◽  
David Javaloyas Molina ◽  
Daniel Albero Santacreu ◽  
Mark Van Strydonck
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Space Management ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Management Processes ◽  
Excavation Process

The Son Ferrer archaeological site presents a series of successive occupations spanning a long period of time. At the beginning of the Iron Age (∼850 BC), a staggered turriform structure was built for a ritual purpose over an artificial hypogeum that had already been used as a collective necropolis during the Early Bronze Age (∼1800–1500 BC). Later, in the post-Talayotic phase (Second Iron Age, 550–123 BC), the hypogeum was again reused as a collective burial place. The present work is focused on the chronological and functional analysis of this last phase, which began ∼500 BC and ended ∼180 BC with the saturation and sealing of the hypogeum. The excavation process revealed that significant removal of archaeological material has occurred as a result of complex funerary space management practices, which generated a secondary archaeological context. Given this situation, and in order to establish the different use phases of the post-Talayotic necropolis, a dual strategy of excavation and research was implemented. First, an extensive series of radiocarbon dates on human remains (18 dates) was obtained, which were later analyzed following Bayesian strategies. Second, a detailed spatial analysis was carried out, georeferencing the location of all the archaeological finds. This strategy allowed the reconstruction of the space management processes and movement patterns that took place in the burial space. Despite some initial difficulties, the combination of these research strategies embedded in a contextual analysis provided both material and chronological references that have contributed to define the various use phases of the hypogeum.

scholarly journals Late-Holocene coastal depositional environments and climate changes in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece

The Holocene ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandros Emmanouilidis ◽  
Ingmar Unkel ◽  
Maria Triantaphyllou ◽  
Pavlos Avramidis
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean Region ◽  
Depositional Environments ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Salt Pond ◽  
Gulf Of Corinth ◽  
Holocene Period

Multidisciplinary studies in coastal systems of the eastern Mediterranean region have proven to be excellent tools in understanding paleoenvironmental, paleoecological, and paleoclimatic changes that took place during the Holocene period, and how these changes interacted with urban development and growth. This paper presents sedimentological, high-resolution x-ray fluorescence (XRF scanning), micropaleontological, and x-ray diffraction (XRD) data from three shallow sediment cores that were retrieved from Aliki (ancient Siphai or Tipha) salt pond. The study area is located in a unique, highly tectonic geographical region, at the northeast part of the Gulf of Corinth in Greece. Beachrock deposits that form a barrier between the salt pond and the marine environment seem to play an important role in the evolution of the area. The chronological framework was set at around 3100 cal. BP by four 14C radiocarbon dates, and the evolutionary model that was established indicates four different changes taking place during this period at the study area. From around 3100 to 1600 cal. BP, a transition from a closed to an open lagoonal environment was identified, interrupted by a fluvial terrestrial deposit at around 2500 cal. BP. A shift toward a closed lagoonal system at around 1600 cal. BP and the establishment of a salt pond environment seem to correlate with tectonic activity. The study provides important information about the evolution of coastal landscape in such a tectonic active region and points the interaction between regional human activity and climatic changes during the late-Holocene period.

scholarly journals RADIOCARBON DATES FOR THE LATE PLEISTOCENE AND EARLY HOLOCENE OCCUPATIONS OF COVA ROSA (RIBADESELLA, ASTURIAS, SPAIN)

Radiocarbon ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Esteban Álvarez-Fernández ◽  
Jesús F Jordá Pardo ◽  
Pablo Arias ◽  
Julián Bécares ◽  
Sergio Martín-Jarque ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Model ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
The Other ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Stratigraphic Correlation ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
The Last Glacial

ABSTRACT Four excavations have been performed at the archaeological site of Cova Rosa (Asturias, Cantabrian Spain): three of them in the second half of last century and the other in this decade. Although little of the archaeological material found in those excavations has been published, here we attempt the stratigraphic correlation of sections revealed by the different excavations and we present 22 new radiocarbon dates for bones and marine shells, built in a Bayesian statistical model. This has enabled the documentation of occupations that mainly took place during the Last Glacial period, in the Solutrean (middle and upper phases) and Magdalenian (archaic, lower, and upper phases), and also in the early Holocene (Mesolithic). These occupations are compared with the record at other sites in Cantabrian Spain in general and in Asturias, in particular.

The Thera olive branch, Akrotiri (Thera) and Palaikastro (Crete): comparing radiocarbon results of the Santorini eruption

Antiquity ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 88 (339) ◽  
pp. 282-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendrik J. Bruins ◽  
Johannes van der Plicht
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Near East ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean Region ◽  
Growth Rings ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Volcanic Tephra ◽  
Olive Trees

An olive branch is traditionally a symbol of peace, but not necessarily in the context of chronological problems in the Eastern Mediterranean region and the Near East during the second millennium BC. Cherubini et al. (above) strongly attack the radiocarbon dating by Friedrich et al. (2006) of an ancient olive branch, buried by volcanic tephra during the Minoan Santorini eruption. The criticism stems from their investigation of growth rings in modern olive trees on Santorini. The authors attempt with additional arguments, beyond their botanical investigation, to defend the traditional low chronology of the Santorini eruption of around 1500 BC. However, they ignore other crucial publications with radiocarbon dates concerning the Santorini eruption. In this response, we evaluate and negate their main arguments, and present our own conclusions.

scholarly journals A Study of the Centuries-Long Reliance on Local Ceramics in Jerash Through Full Quantification and Simulation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iza Romanowska ◽  
Tom Brughmans ◽  
Philip Bes ◽  
Simon Carrignon ◽  
Line Egelund ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Regional Distribution ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Product Distribution ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Explanatory Factors ◽  
Full Analysis

AbstractThe Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project revealed a robust and striking pattern of the extreme dominance (>99%) of locally produced ceramics over six centuries and across different depositional contexts (in total over half a million pottery sherds). The archaeology of Jerash points towards an exceptional degree of self-sufficiency in craft products: why? The project team implemented a full quantification approach during excavation, manually and digitally recording and counting all pottery and other classes of artefacts. This enabled a full analysis of trends in production and use of ceramics throughout the archaeologically documented history of Jerash and revealed the unexpected pattern of the extreme dominance of local pottery. Archaeologists formulated a set of hypotheses to explain this pattern, and we developed an agent-based model of simple customer preference driving product distribution to evaluate several explanatory factors and their potential interactions. Our simulation results reveal that preference for locally produced ceramics at Jerash might be a plausible theory, but only if its intrinsic value was considered rather high in comparison to other goods, or if it was preferred by a majority of the population, and there was a tendency to follow this majority preference (or a combination of these factors). Here, we present a complete research pipeline of a full quantification of ceramics, analysis and modelling applicable at any archaeological site. We argue that transparent methods are necessary at all stages of an archaeological project: not only for data collection, management and analysis but also in theory development and testing. By focusing on a common archaeological material and by leveraging a range of widely available computational tools, we are able to better understand local and intra-regional distribution patterns of craft products in Jerash and in the ancient eastern Mediterranean.

scholarly journals Nazugum, a new 4000 year old rockshelter in the Ili Alatau, Tien Shan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abay Namen ◽  
Aristeidis Varis ◽  
Susanne Lindauer ◽  
Ronny Friedrich ◽  
Zhaken Taimagambetov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Tien Shan ◽  
Transitional Period ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Stratigraphic Sequence ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Field Surveys ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Channel Deposits

The PALAEOSILKROAD project has been conducting field surveys in Kazakhstan to explore the regional Palaeolithic record by targeting primarily caves and rockshelters. However, the survey also discovered numerous sites that were occupied during the Holocene. In this paper, we present our preliminary findings from the Nazugum rockshelter, a new archaeological site located in south-eastern Kazakhstan (Almaty region). The stratigraphic sequence demonstrates the transition from fluvial channel deposits without artifacts to aeolian loess deposits with lithics, charcoal remnants, and fragments of animal bones. The lithics recovered from the sediment wall are dominated by bladelet technology, characteristic for Holocene assemblages. Radiocarbon dates from adjacent charcoal samples yielded an age of 2461-2347 cal. years BC attributing the human occupation to the transitional period of late Eneolithic and early Bronze Age. Our study provides new data for the use of rockshelters in Kazakhstan during the late Holocene and lays the groundwork for future salvage work in Nazugum rockshelter due to the active erosion of the archaeological record.

A view from the Greek side

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-50
Author(s):  
Gunnel Ekroth
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Religion ◽  
Bone Material ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Animal Bone ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Integrated Study ◽  
Written Sources

This paper addresses the animal bone material from ancient Qumran, from the comparative perspective of zooarchaeological evidence recovered in ancient Greek cult contexts. The article offers an overview of the paramount importance of animal bones for the understanding of ancient Greek religion and sacrificial practices in particular, followed by a review of the Qumran material, taking as its starting point the zooarchaeological evidence and the archaeological find contexts. The methodological complications of letting the written sources guide the interpretation of the archaeological material are explored, and it is suggested that the Qumran bones are to be interpreted as remains of ritual meals following animal sacrifices, as proposed by Jodi Magness. The presence of calcined bones additionally supports the proposal that there was once an altar in area L130, and it is argued that the absence of preserved altar installations in many ancient sanctuaries cannot be used as an argument against their ever having been present. Finally, the similarities between Israelite and Greek sacrificial practices are touched upon, arguing for the advantages of a continued and integrated study of these two sacrificial systems based on the zooarchaeological evidence.

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