Abstract
Over 60 recent analyses of animal bones, plant remains, and building timbers from Assiros in northern Greece form an unique series from the 14th to the 10th century BC. With the exception of Thera, the number of 14C determinations from other Late Bronze Age sites in Greece has been small and their contribution to chronologies minimal. The absolute dates determined for Assiros through Bayesian modelling are both consistent and unexpected, since they are systematically earlier than the conventional chronologies of southern Greece by between 70 and 100 years. They have not been skewed by reference to assumed historical dates used as priors. They support high rather than low Iron Age chronologies from Spain to Israel where the merits of each are fiercely debated but remain unresolved.
Highlights
Until very recently the chronology of the later part of the Aegean Bronze Age was entirely based on ‘historical’ dates derived from Egypt with the aid of exported or imported objects such as Minoan or Mycenaean pottery or Egyptian scarabs
Even where the samples and dating techniques are more varied, as in the case of the array of absolute dates determined for the Thera eruption, these have been viewed by some archaeologists with suspicion, since they are offset from the conventional chronology by around 100 years and remain the subject of lively debate [1]
The rationale of the conventional dates currently used for the later phases of the Greek Bronze Age has been set out in detail by Warren and Hankey [26], Weninger and Jung [16] and others, the fact remains that the dates from Assiros and Kastanas are systematically offset from these to approximately the same value as those from Thera at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age
Summary
Until very recently the chronology of the later part of the Aegean Bronze Age was entirely based on ‘historical’ dates derived from Egypt with the aid of exported or imported objects such as Minoan or Mycenaean pottery or Egyptian scarabs. Dates based on 14C dating methods have had wide error margins and the complexities of the calibration curve for the final centuries of the second millennium BC preclude the precise dating of a single sample using 14C techniques alone. Recent analyses of material from Egypt have, confirmed that the Egyptian 14C and historical chronologies are compatible and strengthen our conviction that the Thera 14C dates are correct [2,3,4,5] Studies of material from Argos [6] and Aegina [7] in Greece and more widely in the Eastern Mediterranean [8] all lead to similar conclusions. The precision of 14C measurements has improved steadily and Bayesian modelling has provided a powerful tool for the analysis of the results, these results can be no better than the quality of the samples available
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
