Fluctuating radiocarbon offsets observed in the southern Levant and implications for archaeological chronology debates

Considerable work has gone into developing high-precision radiocarbon (14C) chronologies for the southern Levant region during the Late Bronze to Iron Age/early Biblical periods (∼1200–600 BC), but there has been little consideration whether the current standard Northern Hemisphere14C calibration curve (IntCal13) is appropriate for this region. We measured14C ages of calendar-dated tree rings from AD 1610 to 1940 from southern Jordan to investigate contemporary14C levels and to compare these with IntCal13. Our data reveal an average offset of ∼1914C years, but, more interestingly, this offset seems to vary in importance through time. While relatively small, such an offset has substantial relevance to high-resolution14C chronologies for the southern Levant, both archaeological and paleoenvironmental. For example, reconsidering two published studies, we find differences, on average, of 60% between the 95.4% probability ranges determined from IntCal13 versus those approximately allowing for the observed offset pattern. Such differences affect, and even potentially undermine, several current archaeological and historical positions and controversies.

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Precision Calendar-Year Dating of the Elm Decline in a Sphagnum-Peat Bog in Southern Sweden

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/s0033822200030642 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 37 (2) ◽

pp. 197-202 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Göran Skog ◽

Joachim Regnéll

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

High Precision ◽

Pollen Analysis ◽

Calibration Curve ◽

Peat Bog ◽

Southern Sweden ◽

Sphagnum Peat

The cause of the mid-Holocene elm decline in northwestern Europe and its relation to the contemporaneous transition from Mesolithic to Neolithic economy are still unclear, partly owing to the lack of a precise, calibrated chronology. Matching of a sequence of 14C dates to the calibration curve in combination with accurate 14C dating allows high-precision dating of paleoecological events. We have completed high-resolution dating of a Sphagnum-peat sequence from Ageröds Mosse in southernmost Sweden. The basis for selecting 14C samples was pollen analysis at 1 cm intervals. Nine 14C dates, covering an interval of ca. 500 calendar years around the elm decline, showed that this event occurred in Ageröds Mosse within a few decades ca. 3770 bc.

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14C Calibration in the Southern Hemisphere and the Date of the Last Taupo Eruption: Evidence from Tree-Ring Sequences

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/s0033822200030599 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 37 (2) ◽

pp. 155-163 ◽

Cited By ~ 71

Author(s):

R. J. Sparks ◽

W. H. Melhuish ◽

J.W. A. McKee ◽

John Ogden ◽

J. G. Palmer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Southern Hemisphere ◽

Northern Hemisphere ◽

Tree Ring ◽

Tree Rings ◽

Calibration Curve ◽

Systematic Difference ◽

Calibration Data ◽

Northern And Southern Hemispheres

Tree rings from a section of Prumnopitys taxifolia (matai) covering the period ad 1335–1745 have been radiocarbon dated and used to generate a 14C calibration curve for southern hemisphere wood. Comparison of this curve with calibration data for northern hemisphere wood does not show a systematic difference between 14C ages measured in the northern and southern hemispheres. A floating chronology covering 270 yr and terminating at the last Taupo (New Zealand) eruption, derived from a sequence of 10-yr samples of tree rings from Phyllocladus trichomanoides (celery pine, or tanekaha), is also consistent with the absence of a systematic north-south difference, and together with the matai data, fixes the date of the Taupo eruption at ad 232 ± 15.

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Radiocarbon and Tree-Ring Dates of the Bes-Shatyr #3 Saka Kurgan in the Semirechiye, Kazakhstan

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/s0033822200048207 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 55 (3) ◽

pp. 1297-1303 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Irina Panyushkina ◽

Fedor Grigoriev ◽

Todd Lange ◽

Nursan Alimbay

Keyword(s):

High Resolution ◽

Tree Ring ◽

Iron Age ◽

Calibration Curve ◽

Prominent Feature ◽

Tree Ring Chronology ◽

Inner Asia ◽

Ili River Valley ◽

Early Appearance ◽

Wide Range

This study employs tree-ring crossdating and radiocarbon measurements to determine the precise calendar age of the Bes-Shatyr Saka necropolis (43°47′N, 81°21′E) built for wealthy tribe leaders in the Ili River Valley (Semirechiye), southern Kazakhstan. We developed a 218-yr tree-ring chronology and a highly resolved sequence of14C from timbers of Bes-Shatyr kurgan #3. A 4-decadal-point14C wiggle dates the Bes-Shatyr necropolis to 600 cal BC. A 47-yr range of cutting dates adjusted the kurgan date to ∼550 BC. This is the first result of high-resolution14C dating produced for the Saka burials in the Semirechiye. The collective dating of Bes-Shatyr indicates the early appearance of the Saka necropolis in the Semirechiye eastern margins of the Saka dispersal. However, the date is a couple of centuries younger than previously suggested by single14C dates. It is likely that the Shilbiyr sanctuary (location of the Bes-Shatyr) became a strategic and sacral place for the Saka leadership in the Semirechiye long before 550 BC. Another prominent feature of the Semirechiye burial landscape, the Issyk necropolis enclosing the Golden Warrior tomb, appeared a few centuries later according to14C dating reported by other investigators. This study contributes to the Iron Age chronology of Inner Asia, demonstrating successful results of14C calibration within the Hallstatt Plateau of the14C calibration curve. It appears that the wide range of calibrated dates for the Saka occurrences in Kazakhstan (from 800 BC to AD 350) is the result of the calibration curve constraints around the middle of the 1st millennium BC.

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Sample Credentials Necessary for Meaningful High-Precision 14C Dating

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/s0033822200020117 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 1060-1064 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

E M Jope

Keyword(s):

Carbon Content ◽

High Precision ◽

Tree Rings ◽

Calibration Curve ◽

Total Carbon ◽

Time Range ◽

14C Dating ◽

Growth Rings ◽

Total Carbon Content

Samples presented for high-precision 14C dating must satisfy stringent requirements if the 14C determinations are to yield meaningful sharp calendric dates, such as are now possible with the bidecadal high-precision calibration curve. The total carbon content should come from a confined time range 10–20 years (10–20 tree rings in wood or charcoal) appropriate for the bidecadal calibration curve. For accurate calendric dating the relation of these rings to the outer growth rings must be known. Application of the high-precision calibration curve to some archaeologic examples is discussed. It is now up to archaeologists and geoscientists to use this refined chronometric instrument to fullest advantage.

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A Note on Single-Year Calibration of the Radiocarbon Time Scale, AD 1510–1954

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/s0033822200013813 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

pp. 67-72 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Minze Stuiver

Keyword(s):

Tree Ring ◽

High Precision ◽

Tree Rings ◽

Calibration Curve ◽

Time Scale ◽

Growing Season ◽

Precision Measurements ◽

Radiocarbon Age ◽

Data Points ◽

Age Determinations

Most data in this Calibration Issue are based on radiocarbon age determinations of tree-ring samples with dendrochronologically determined calibrated (cal) ages. For high-precision measurements, substantial sample amounts are needed, and the processed wood usually spans 10 or 20 tree rings. Thus, the calibration curve data points usually have decadal, or bidecadal, spacing. These curves, to be used for the calibration of samples formed over 1 or 2 decades, may not be fully applicable to samples (leaves, twigs, etc.) formed in a single growing season.

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High-Precision Radiocarbon Dating of the Construction Phase of Oakbank Crannog, Loch Tay, Perthshire

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/s0033822200045392 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 52 (2) ◽

pp. 346-355 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

G T Cook ◽

T N Dixon ◽

N Russell ◽

P Naysmith ◽

S Xu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Precision ◽

Iron Age ◽

Calibration Curve ◽

Radiocarbon Dating ◽

Considerable Improvement ◽

Early Iron Age ◽

Maximum Range ◽

Living Area

Many of the Loch Tay crannogs were built in the Early Iron Age and so calibration of the radiocarbon ages produces very broad calendar age ranges due to the well-documented Hallstatt plateau in the calibration curve. However, the large oak timbers that were used in the construction of some of the crannogs potentially provide a means of improving the precision of the dating through subdividing them into decadal or subdecadal increments, dating them to high precision and wiggle-matching the resulting data to the master 14C calibration curve. We obtained a sample from 1 oak timber from Oakbank Crannog comprising 70 rings (Sample OB06 WMS 1, T103) including sapwood that was complete to the bark edge. The timber is situated on the northeast edge of the main living area of the crannog and as a large and strong oak pile would have been a useful support in more than 1 phase of occupation and may be related to the earliest construction phase of the site. This was sectioned into 5-yr increments and dated to a precision of approximately ±8–16 14C yr (1 σ). The wiggle-match predicts that the last ring dated was formed around 500 BC (maximum range of 520–465 BC) and should be taken as indicative of the likely time of construction of Oakbank Crannog. This is a considerable improvement on the estimates based on single 14C ages made on oak samples, which typically encompassed the period from around 800–400 BC.

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Radiocarbon to Calendar Date Conversion: Calendrical Band Widths as a Function of Radiocarbon Precision

Radiocarbon ◽

10.1017/s0033822200064997 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 35 (2) ◽

pp. 311-316 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

F. G. McCormac ◽

M. G. L. Baillie

Keyword(s):

Bronze Age ◽

High Precision ◽

Iron Age ◽

Calibration Curve ◽

Band Width ◽

Calendar Date ◽

Range Determination ◽

Age Range ◽

The Bronze Age

Accurate high-precision 14C dating (i.e., ± 20 yr precision or less on the 14C date) provides the narrowest calendrical band width and, hence, the best age range determination possible. However, because of the structure in the 14C calibration curve, the calendar age range for a given 14C precision is not constant throughout the calibration range. In this study, we quantify the calendar band widths for a range of 14C precisions throughout the calibration range. We show that an estimate of the likely calendar band width in years can be obtained from the expression: Band width (yr) = 2.12 x 14C precision (1 σ) + 54.6. We also show that calendar band widths are widest around 4000 BP at the start of the Bronze Age, and become narrow through the later Bronze Age and Iron Age and back into the Neolithic.

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