scholarly journals Freshwater Reservoir Effect on Redating of Eurasian Steppe Cultures: First Results for Eneolithic and Early Bronze Age Northeast Kazakhstan

Radiocarbon ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 625-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana V Svyatko ◽  
Ilya V Mertz ◽  
Paula J Reimer

Freshwater reservoir effects (FRE) can cause problems when radiocarbon dating human skeletal material from the Eurasian steppe. This article presents the first results of research into the extent of the FRE in the sites of Borly 4 (Eneolithic) and Shauke 1 and 8b (Early Bronze Age), northeastern Kazakhstan. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS)14C dating and stable isotope (δ13C, δ15N) analysis of associated groups of samples (32 samples, 11 groups in total) demonstrate the following: (a) the diet of the humans and fauna analyzed was based on the C3foodchain with no evidence of a C4plant (such as millet) contribution; aquatic resources apparently were a continuous dietary feature for the humans; (b) the first14C dates obtained for the Upper and Middle Irtysh River region attribute the Eneolithic period of the area to the 34th to 30th centuries BC, and the Early Bronze Age to the 25th to 20th centuries BC, with a ~450-yr hiatus between the two periods; (c) the maximum fish-herbivore freshwater reservoir offset observed equals 301 ± 4714C yr. As such,14C dates from aquatic and human samples from the area need to be interpreted with caution as they are likely to be affected by the offset (i.e. appear older). The article also discusses the effect of a sodium hydroxide (NaOH) wash on δ13C, δ15N, C:Natomiclevels and collagen yields of the bone samples. Our results indicate a minor but significant effect of NaOH treatment only on C:Natomicratios of the samples.

Author(s):  
A. Poliakov ◽  
◽  
P. Hommel ◽  
L. Marsadolov ◽  
V. Lurie ◽  
...  

This abstract presents the first results of Kamenniy Log I, the Late Bronze Age settlement at Minusinsk Hollow, radiocarbon dating. This investigation was based on samples from the different dwellings. The analysis, which had been made at the laboratories of the Oxford University, confirmed earlier assumptions about the sustainable chronology of this key site (XIV–X BC).


Antiquity ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 54 (210) ◽  
pp. 21-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Weinstein

James Mellaart’s attempt to demonstrate a ‘high’ chronology for Egypt and the Near East for the period of c. 4000-1500 BC will undoubtedly stimulate much discussion among historians and archaeologists. He has forcefully pointed out various problems which have arisen in trying to reconcile the standard historical chronologies established between and within individual countries. It is probably true that some scholars have treated the so-called ‘middle’ chronology as if it was almost sacred, and certainly some individuals have ignored radiocarbon dates (especially calibrated dates) if they appeared to be in conflict with results obtained from traditional historical and archaeological sources. But neither these faults, nor others pointed out by the author, justify his own methods of trying to demolish the middle chronology in favour of a significantly higher one. Since elsewhere in this issue Barry Kemp is presenting a critical review of Mellaart’s Egyptian historical data, and has included some remarks on the Egyptian radiocarbon dates, I will restrict my own remarks here largely to the Palestinian radiocarbon materials, and will only comment on the Egyptian C14 dates as they pertain to Palestinian Early Bronze Age chronology.


Radiocarbon ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yannis Maniatis ◽  
Bernd Kromer

The following list of dates was obtained in a joint German-Greek project to establish a radiocarbon dating laboratory in the National Research Centre for Physical Sciences “Demokritos,” Athens, Greece.1 Although our initial aim in selecting these samples was to study laboratory procedures, we found that when the dates were arranged in stratigraphic order they provided a chronological framework for Thessalian and northern Macedonian site of the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages (Kotsakis et al 1989; Papanthimou & Papasteriou 1987a).


2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Shishlina ◽  
Johan Plicht ◽  
Elya Zazovskaya

AbstractBone catapult and hammer-headed pins played one of very specific roles in funerary offerings in the Bronze Age graves uncovered in the Eurasian Steppes and the North Caucasus. Scholars used different types of pins as key grave offerings for numerous chronological models. For the first time eight pins have been radiocarbon dated. 14C dating of bone pins identified the catapult type pin as the earliest one. They marked the period of the Yamnaya culture formation. Then Yamnaya population produced hammer-headed pins which became very popular in other cultural environments and spread very quickly across the Steppe and the Caucasus during 2900–2650 cal BC. But according to radiocarbon dating bone pins almost disappeared after 2600 cal BC.


2013 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 165-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy M. Jones ◽  
Henrietta Quinnell

This paper describes the results from a project to date Early Bronze Age daggers and knives from barrows in south-west England. Copper alloy daggers are found in the earliest Beaker associated graves and continue to accompany human remains until the end of the Early Bronze Age. They have been identified as key markers of Early Bronze Age graves since the earliest antiquarian excavations and typological sequences have been suggested to provide dating for the graves in which they are found. However, comparatively few southern British daggers are associated with radiocarbon determinations. To help address this problem, five sites in south-west England sites were identified which had daggers and knives, four of copper alloy and one of flint, and associated cremated bone for radiocarbon dating. Three sites were identified in Cornwall (Fore Down, Rosecliston, Pelynt) and two in Devon (Upton Pyne and Huntshaw). Ten samples from these sites were submitted for radiocarbon dating. All but one (Upton Pyne) are associated with two or more dates. The resulting radiocarbon determinations revealed that daggers/knives were occasionally deposited in barrow-associated contexts in the south-west from c. 1900 to 1500 calbc.The dagger at Huntshaw, Devon, was of Camerton-Snowshill type and the dates were earlier than those generally proposed but similar to that obtained from cremated bone found with another dagger of this type from Cowleaze in Dorset: these dates may necessitate reconsideration of the chronology of these daggers


2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAUL MASSER ◽  
ANN MacSWEEN

A group of four pits was excavated on a low gravel terrace above the floodplain of the River Kelvin to the north of Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire (National Grid Reference NS 6677 7518). One pit contained sherds from four collared urns, while another contained fragments from a fifth collared urn. Radiocarbon dating suggests an 18th-16th century BC date for these features. Whereas almost all known collared urns accompany cremations, this was not the case with the material from Inchbelle Farm, and alternative reasons for the deposition of the pottery are discussed.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 645-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari Tõrv ◽  
John Meadows

Four inhumations from Kivisaare and Riigiküla I settlement and burial sites were dated in the course of a project about hunter-gatherer mortuary practices in Estonia, as they were believed to belong to the Stone Age. However, these burials appear to be Early Bronze Age inhumations instead, and thus are discussed separately in the present article. These burials are the first evidence in Estonia of a long-lasting tradition of inhumations without any visible aboveground structures. As the archaeology of the Early Bronze Age in Estonia is poorly known, these four inhumations contribute immensely to our understanding about this time period. Moreover, stable isotope values show that these people had a more terrestrial subsistence strategy than Stone Age hunter-gatherers. Nevertheless, aquatic resources were probably still significant components of their diet, particularly at Kivisaare, and the radiocarbon dates could therefore be subject to significant freshwater reservoir effects. This creates ambiguity in the chronological relationship of these four individuals to burials in stone-cist graves, which are attributed to the Late Bronze Age and which appear to be associated with fully agricultural communities.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  

AbstractIn 2012 and 2013, four large-scale architectural remains and 16 stone slab cists were excavated in Aduun Chuluu Site and Cemetery, from which potteries, stone implements, small bronze objects and gold-filled bronze earring and stone human statues were unearthed. The dates of the remains and burials were concentrated between the 19th to the 17th centuries BCE, which was the early Bronze Age in this region. This discovery is helpful for revealing the features of the sites of the early Bronze Age in the western Tianshan Mountains and provides important clues for the explorations on the cultural connotations of the early Bronze Age in Xinjiang and the cultural intercommunication in the Eurasian Steppe area at that time.


1991 ◽  
Vol 120 ◽  
pp. 45-53
Author(s):  
Gordon J Barclay ◽  
Myra Tolan-Smith ◽  
Coralie Mills ◽  
J Barber

A small part of the terrace edge enclosure at North Mains was excavated to test the hypothesis that it was contemporary with one or other of the Neolithic/Early Bronze Age ceremonial monuments immediately to the north. Two cropmark ditches and an entrance through them were confirmed by excavation. The inner ditch was very steep sided; postholes were found on the inner edge of both ditches. Possible postholes were also noted on the outer edge of the outer ditch. Traces of a number of structures were located in the interior, including what may be the slight wall-trench of a circular house. The results of radiocarbon dating may suggest that the ditch was dug in the second millennium bc, while at least one of the structures in the interior was in use in the late first millennium bc. A comment on the radiocarbon dates is provided by John Barber (50--1). An appendix gives details of the `Identification of charcoal from North Mains' by Coralie Mills (52--3). Au


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