The MedAfriCarbon Radiocarbon Database and Web Application. Archaeological Dynamics in Mediterranean Africa, ca. 9600–700 BC

Giulio Lucarini,Andrew Bevan,Enrico R Crema,Cyprian Broodbank,Augusto Palombini,Toby Wilkinson

doi:10.5334/joad.60

Abstract

The MedAfriCarbon radiocarbon database and its accompanying web application are outcomes of the MedAfrica project — Archaeological deep history and dynamics of Mediterranean Africa, ca. 9600–700 BC. The dataset presented here in Version 1.0 of the database includes 1587 archaeological 14C dates from 368 sites in Mediterranean Africa. The database is unusual because the majority of the dates within it have been annotated with further cultural and environmental variables, notably the presence/absence of different domestic/wild species and particular material culture traits. MedAfriCarbon also includes an publicly-accessible web application that facilitates data exploration and informal analysis. Funding statement: The Leverhulme Trust provided the core funding for the Archaeological deep history and dynamics of Mediterranean Africa, ca. 9600–700 BC (MedAfrica) Research Project (RPG-2016-261). Additional financial support for the project came from the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and IPOCAN, MIUR project, via ISMEO (the International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies). ISMEO financially covered the publication costs of this open-access paper.

Highlights

1) Overview The MedAfrica Project The MedAfrica Project (Leverhulme Trust, RPG-2016-261; PI: Cyprian Broodbank, RA Giulio Lucarini; duration from 2017 to 2019) set out to produce the first comprehensive, empirical and interpretative synthesis of long-term social and economic dynamics on the African flank of the Mediterranean between the beginning of the Holocene and the arrival of Phoenicians and Greeks (800–600 BC), and to identify major factors shaping the patterns detected
2) Methods: MedAfriCarbon database and web-app The creation of the MedAfriCarbon database was enabled by a desk-based synthesis of published radiocarbon dates, with the further addition of presence/absence data about major cultural traits, as well as faunal and botanical remains by species and domestic/wild status for each site
385 references reported 14C from Mediterranean African sites and/or information about economic and cultural associations, and these were all entered in the MedAfriCarbon bibliography

Summary

DATA PAPER

The MedAfriCarbon Radiocarbon Database and Web Application. Archaeological Dynamics in Mediterranean Africa, ca. 9600–700 BC. A comprehensive up-to-date database of published radiocarbon dates was assembled and, more unusually, these were given systematic associations with key cultural markers (e.g. the co-presence or absence of domestic/wild species and various material culture traits), allowing, for the first time in a generation, overall chronological and cultural trajectories for the prehistory of this region to emerge These questions have been explored as part of the interpretative synthesis presented in [3]. The recorded options were: “yes” (definite presence); “

Other contents of the MedAfriCarbon deposit directory

Data type Secondary