Age Chronology Research Articles

Archaeomagnetism, Radiocarbon Dating, and the Problem of Circular Reasoning in Chronological Debates: A Reply to Stillinger et al. 2016

In the June 2016 issue of Near Eastern Archaeology, Michele D. Stillinger, James W. Hardin, Joshua M. Feinberg, and Jeffrey A. Blakely published a paper entitled “Archaeomagnetism as a Complementary Dating Technique to Address the Iron Age Chronology Debate in the Levant” (Stillinger et al. 2016) in which the authors argue that archaeomagnetism “can provide a complementary dating tool to build a stronger, more robust chronology for the Iron Age” (90). The authors suggest here that their paper is overly optimistic regarding the potential of archaeomagnetism as a means for refining the Iron Age chronology of the Levant. Further, their approach is in fact based on circular reasoning, seriously constraining the potential use of this dating methodology. Despite the fact that other absolute dating techniques would be highly desirable for providing absolute (calendrical) dates for the Iron Age, the authors argue that radiocarbon dating and Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon determinations will remain the most useful and reliable dating methodology in the foreseeable future.

Mesolittisk kronologi i Sørøst-Norge – et forslag til justering

A reassessment of the Mesolithic chronology in SoutheastNorway In 1975, Egil Mikkelsen proposed a Stone Age chronology for southeastern Norway based on a small number of excavated sites. According to him, the Mesolithic could be divided intofour phases. Albeit with slight adjustments Mikkelsen’sscheme has more or less been confirmed by later excavations. The chronology for Southeast Norway is thus reasonably well defined. Nevertheless, several transition periods have not been convincingly dated, especially the one between the Late Mesolithic Nøstvet and Kjeøy phases (BC 6350–4650 and BC 4650–3800, respectively), and, to a certain extent, the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition (BC3800). The established chronology was largely based on sites locatedeast of the Oslofjord. However, recent excavated and well-dated sites west of the Oslofjord, in the counties of Vestfold and Telemark, have provided new data to reassess the established chronology andtransition periods. In this paper C14 date-results, technological patterns and selected artefacts from these sites are presented and discussed. These indicate a chronological pattern different from the established scheme. The suggested outline for the Mesolithic in Southeast Norway is as follows: the microlith phase/BC 8200–7000; the pecked adze phase/BC 7000–5600; the Nøstvet adze phase/BC 5600–4500, and finally the transverse arrowhead phase/BC 4500–3900. Hence, it is also argued that the end of the Late Mesolithic should be dated to BC 3900, that is, in line with the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in southern Sweden and Denmark.

Preliminary Report on the Cairn Tombs of Kuik & Qaleh Bahadori in the Zahāb Plain, Kermānshāh

In the summer of 2015, a preliminary visit was carried out by the authors with the goal of identifying and documenting archaeological cemeteries as well as giv ing a relative chronology of them at two villages of Kuik and Qaleh Bahadori in the Zahāb Plain, located in Sarpol-e Zahāb County in Kermānshāh province of Iran. Numerous tombs were identified in four cemeteries. Mostly they were located in the hillside of mountains. The pile of stones on the ground can be an indicator to assess them. Structurally all tombs are the same. All around the tomb's wall was elevated with different size of stones in several rows; after putting the dead body, the tomb has been covered with three or four cap stones. Then the pile of stones was put on top of it. Nevertheless these cemeteries were been looted by smugglers, still some intact tombs can be seen among them. Unfortunately, no cultural materials were found in these areas except for few potsherds; so this caused some difficulties to date the tombs. The morphology of their structure and comparative study with peripheral regions suggest probable chronology of Iron Age III for the tombs. It is evident that certain results will be achieved on the basis of archaeological excavations.

Archaeomagnetism as a Complementary Dating Technique to Address the Iron Age Chronology Debate in the Levant

Meaningful interpretation of past human culture and political geography requires an accurate chronology that can be correlated with our modern calendar. The timing of seminal events during the Leva...

New Evidence for Middle Bronze Age Chronology and Synchronisms in the Levant: Radiocarbon Dates from Tell el-Burak, Tell el-Dabʿa, and Tel Ifshar Compared

We report a set of radiocarbon data for the Middle Bronze Age monumental building at Tell el-Burak in Lebanon, dating it to the 19th century b.c., and summarize the relevant archaeological informat...

New Radiocarbon Dates from Tel Kabri Support a High Middle Bronze Age Chronology

AbstractThis article presents new radiocarbon evidence from the Middle Bronze Age palatial site of Tel Kabri (Israel). The final phase of the palace (Phase III) can be dated to Middle Bronze Age II, with an end date around the transition from Middle Bronze II to III or very early in Middle Bronze III. According to our14C data, the end of Tel Kabri Phase III (and thus the transition from Middle Bronze II to III) can be dated to ~1700 BC. This date is about 50–100 yr earlier than traditional chronological models for the Middle Bronze Age propose (~1650 BC according to the traditional chronology or ~1600 BC according to the low chronology).14C data from Tel Kabri thus add additional evidence for a higher Middle Bronze Age chronology for the Levant, consistent with recent14C evidence from Tell el-Dabca (Egypt), Tel Ifshar (Israel), and Tell el-Burak (Lebanon).

EARLY BRONZE AGE CHRONOLOGY OF MAINLAND GREECE: A REVIEW WITH NEW DATES FROM THE EXCAVATIONS AT KOUPHOVOUNO

A series of radiocarbon dates for Early Bronze Age contexts from the excavations at Kouphovouno are published for the first time. By adopting a Bayesian modelling approach, the 14C estimates allow greater precision in arriving at an absolute chronology for the period. The opportunity is taken to place these dates as part of the more general development of the Early Bronze period. The sequence for mainland Greece is compared with the recently revised dating of the Early Cycladic period. The new data support a lower chronology than that advocated in recent publications.

Syria and the chronology of the Iron Age

Syria and the chronology of the Iron Age

Dating Archaeological Cultures by Their Moats? A Case Study from the Early Bronze Age Settlement Fidvár near Vráble, SW Slovakia

AbstractThis article uses age-depth models based on 29 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates from charred plant macroremains (seeds, chaff), wood charcoal, and snail shells found in two moats from the settlement Fidvár near Vráble (SW Slovakia) to improve the absolute chronology of the Early Bronze Age in central Europe. The charred macroremains were taxonomically identified to species or genus level and the lifespan of the objects and the archaeological context were considered carefully. The selected snail shells were identified to provide reliable age information. This study demonstrates that under certain conditions, ditch archives can be well suited to contribute to archaeological chronologies. For the first time, the transition from the Hatvan to the Únětice period is dated absolutely.

중부 지역 청동기시대 편년의 병행 관계

중부 지역 청동기시대 편년의 병행 관계

Rewriting the Central European Early Bronze Age Chronology: Evidence from Large-Scale Radiocarbon Dating.

The transition from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age in Central Europe has often been considered as a supra-regional uniform process, which led to the growing mastery of the new bronze technology. Since the 1920s, archaeologists have divided the Early Bronze Age into two chronological phases (Bronze A1 and A2), which were also seen as stages of technical progress. On the basis of the early radiocarbon dates from the cemetery of Singen, southern Germany, the beginning of the Early Bronze Age in Central Europe was originally dated around 2300/2200 BC and the transition to more complex casting techniques (i.e., Bronze A2) around 2000 BC. On the basis of 140 newly radiocarbon dated human remains from Final Neolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Age cemeteries south of Augsburg (Bavaria) and a re-dating of ten graves from the cemetery of Singen, we propose a significantly different dating range, which forces us to re-think the traditional relative and absolute chronologies as well as the narrative of technical development. We are now able to date the beginning of the Early Bronze Age to around 2150 BC and its end to around 1700 BC. Moreover, there is no transition between Bronze (Bz) A1 and Bronze (Bz) A2, but a complete overlap between the type objects of the two phases from 1900–1700 BC. We thus present a revised chronology of the assumed diagnostic type objects of the Early Bronze Age and recommend a radiocarbon-based view on the development of the material culture. Finally, we propose that the traditional phases Bz A1 and Bz A2 do not represent a chronological sequence, but regionally different social phenomena connected to the willingness of local actors to appropriate the new bronze technology.

Surface exposure chronology of the Waimakariri glacial sequence in the Southern Alps of New Zealand: Implications for MIS-2 ice extent and LGM glacial mass balance

During the late Quaternary, the Southern Alps of New Zealand experienced multiple episodes of glaciation with large piedmont glaciers reaching the coastal plains in the west and expanding into the eastern alpine forelands. Here, we present a new 10Be exposure age chronology for a moraine sequence in the Waimakariri Valley (N-Canterbury), which has long been used as a reference record for correlating glacial events across New Zealand and the wider Southern Hemisphere. Our data indicate that the Waimakariri glacier reached its maximum last glaciation extent prior to ∼26 ka well before the global last glaciation maximum (LGM). This was followed by a gradual reduction in ice volume and the abandonment of the innermost LGM moraines at about 17.5 ka. Significantly, we find that during its maximum extent, the Waimakariri glacier overflowed the Avoca Plateau, previously believed to represent a mid-Pleistocene glacial surface (i.e. MIS 8). At the same time, the glacier extended to a position downstream of the Waimakariri Gorge, some 15 km beyond the previously mapped LGM ice limit. We use a simple steady-state mass balance model to test the sensitivity of past glacial accumulation to various climatic parameters, and to evaluate possible climate scenarios capable of generating the ice volume required to reach the full local-LGM extent. Model outcomes indicate that under New Zealand's oceanic setting, a cooling of 5 °C, assuming modern precipitation levels, or a cooling of 6.5 °C, assuming a one third reduction in precipitation, would suffice to drive the Waimakariri glacier to the eastern alpine forelands (Canterbury Plains). Our findings demonstrate that the scale of LGM glaciation in the Waimakariri Valley and adjacent major catchments, both in terms of ice volume and downvalley ice extent, has been significantly underestimated. Our observation that high-lying glacial surfaces, so far believed to represent much older glacial episodes, were glaciated during the LGM, challenges the conventional geomorphic model of glaciation in New Zealand where the vertical arrangement of glacial landform-associations is used to assign successively older glaciation ages.

Geomorphological evidence and 10Be exposure ages for the Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation of the Velká and Malá Studená dolina valleys in the High Tatra Mountains, central Europe

10Be exposure age chronology of the last glaciation was established in a key area at the southern slopes of the High Tatra Mts., Western Carpathians. In-situ produced 10Be in moraine boulders, glacially transformed bedrock surfaces and rockfall accumulations constrains the timing of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) glacier expansion and provides chronological evidence for the post-LGM decay of one of the largest paleoglaciers in the range. The uncertainty-weighted mean age of 22.0 ± 0.8 ka obtained for the terminal moraine in the forefield of the Velká Studená dolina Valley indicates that the oldest moraine was deposited close to the global LGM. This finding confirms that well-preserved moraines in the range were formed during the last glacial cycle and that glaciation on the southern flank of the range was more extensive than earlier in the last glacial cycle. The maximum glacier extent correlates with late Würmian/Weichselian glacier phases in the Alps, the Bavarian/Bohemian Forest and the Krkonoše Mts., but probably postdates the period of maximum glaciation in the Southern Carpathians. Re-advance moraines at the mouth of the Velká Studená dolina Valley and in the middle part of the Malá Studená dolina Valley were deposited no later than around 20.5 ka and 15.5 ka, respectively. The timing of these advances is broadly synchronous within the High Tatra Mts. as well as with glacier advances in the Alps, Bavarian/Bohemian Forest and Krkonoše Mts. 10Be exposure ages obtained from glacially transformed bedrock surfaces range between 20.5 ± 1.7 ka and 10.7 ± 0.3 ka constraining the onset and the final phase of the deglaciation. Surface exposure dating of four rockfall accumulations produced uncertainty-weighted mean ages of 20.2 ± 1.2 ka, 17.0 ± 0.7 ka, 16.5 ± 0.4 ka and 15.6 ± 0.7 ka. These ages indicate that activation of rock-slope failures occurred under paraglacial conditions within a few centuries up to 1400 years after the formation of re-advance moraines.

On the age of the Khvalynian deposits of the Caspian Sea coasts according to 14C and 230Th/234U methods

During the second half of the late Pleistocene, the Caspian experienced repeated transgressions (Early and Late Khvalynian) and regressions (Enotaevsk and Mangyshlak) with an oscillation amplitude of 120–150 m. The question about the age of the Khvalynian deposits is controversial. The investigation presents the age chronology of the Khvalynian deposits of the Caspian coasts on the basis of marine terrace stratigraphy and 14C and 230Th/234U dating conducted in the Laboratory of the Saint-Petersburg State University. Forty samples of mollusc material from Khvalynian deposits were dated. For dating, the shells of index-genus Didacna from the deposits of marine terraces with different elevations were sampled. Besides shells, a fragment of bone from Equus sp. was dated. The analysis of dating showed that during the maximum of the Late Valdai (Wurm) glaciation the Khvalynian basin was in a regressive situation. The maximum stage (+48 to +50 m) of the Early Khvalynian transgression was not dated. Transgressive stages of the Early Khvalynian basin with sea levels of +35 and +22 m occurred during the period of deglaciation approximately 16 ka cal BP and 14 ka cal BP. The transgressive stages of the Late Khvalynian basin with sea level at about 0 m and −12 m occurred 14–12 ka cal BP. Probably, the age of deposits of Makhachkala stage with level about 0 m reflected an Allerod warming, and the age of deposits of Sartassy stage with level about −12 is associated with warming at the end of Younger Dryas. Under cold climate conditions of Younger Dryas the level of the Late Khvalynian basin fell. Increasingly continental climatic conditions during the Boreal period of the Holocene resulted in the Mangyshlak regression.

Does the Coralline Alga Leptophytum foecundum (Kjellman) Capture Paleoenvironmental Variability in the Arctic Ocean?

Records of high resolution climate variability in the past are essential to understanding the climate change observed today. This is particularly true for Arctic regions, which are rapidly warming. Prior to instrumental data, proxy records can be extracted from high-latitude climate archives to provide critical records of past Arctic climate variability. Here, we investigate the feasibility of extracting records of climate and environmental variability from the skeleton of the crustose coralline alga Leptophytum foecundum from offshore the Sagavanirktok River in the Beaufort Sea. Although this alga forms an annually banded skeleton, age chronologies were established with difficulty due to the large uncalcified reproductive structures relative to low annual growth rates. Average measurements of skeletal Mg content, δ18Oalga values, and δ13Calga values were consistent among the analyzed specimens, but time series of these parameters only significantly correlated between two of the collected specimens for δ18Oalga. No clear trends in environmental variability explained the patterns in the skeletal geochemistry over time. This suggests that ambient seawater combined with freshwater from the Sagavanirktok River drives the geochemistry of L. foecundum at this site. Thus, coralline algal specimens located near variable sources of low-salinity waters are not ideal organisms to use as proxy archives.

Deglaciation of the High Tatra Mountains

Investigation on the glaciation of the High Tatra Mountains has an over 200 years long history. The chronology of the last deglaciation of the massif has been based mainly on geomorphologic evidence, thermo-luminiscence (TL) dating and few radiocarbon ages. This study presents the current state of knowledge about the last glacial cycle and its termination in the High Tatra Mountains based on exposure age chronology. 36Cl dating of glacial features applied on both the northern and the southern slope of the range, indicates that the maximum advance (LGM I) occurred in the time range between 25 and 20 ka and the subsequent episode (LGM II) when glaciers were stable, took place at around 18 ka. The mean annual temperature was depressed by 11-12ºC in relation to the modern conditions and precipitation was 40-50% of the present day value. The younger glacier advances or stillstands likely occurred at around 17-16 ka (LG1) and at 15 ka (LG2). Both of them can be correlated with the Greenland Stadial 2a (the Oldest Dryas). Modelled climatic conditions indicate cold and dry climate with 9-10ºC lower temperature and 30-50% lower precipitation. The Lateglacial Interstadial 2 is recorded as fast thinning of glaciers in the upper part of the catchments between 15 and 13 ka. The LG3 glacial episode is marked by well-fomed terminal moraines which were formed at around 12.5 ka. This cooling correlates well with the Younger Dryas (Greenland Stadial 1) when temperature in the Tatra Mountains was lower than today by about 6ºC and precipitation was about 75% of current values.

The aid of Bayesian radiocarbon modeling in assessing the chronology of Middle Bronze Age Sicily at the site level. A case study

This work explores the issue of the absolute chronology of Sicilian Middle Bronze Age (MBA) at the site level. While the overall absolute chronological framework of the period has been worked out through the years via historical means (namely, presence of datable ceramic imports from Late Helladic Greece), the chronology of individual sites has not been explored. In a Bayesian radiocarbon framework, this work aims at addressing the issue of the start, end, duration, and position within the overall MBA time-frame of a case study settlement (Portella, in north-eastern Sicily). Five models for the site chronology are built and compared, and the broader archaeological and cultural implications are discussed. The analysis indicates that the site is likely to represent an early stage of the development of the overall MBA and, notably, that its end is not likely to have been linked to the historical event that marks the end of MBA elsewhere in the same area. The analysis calls for a need of future site-by-site evaluations of the chronology of MBA at the site level.

A skull of the immigrant Eurasian beardog Cynelos (Carnivora, Amphicyonidae) from the early Miocene of southern California

ABSTRACT—At ∼23 Ma, large amphicyonid carnivorans participated in the initial Neogene mammal migration passing though the Bering filter en route to North America. Among the migrants were the amphicyonines Cynelos and Ysengrinia, first appearing in early Miocene sediments of the upper Arikaree Group in Nebraska and Wyoming, having entered the New World with chalicotheres, small cervoids, and the cursorial rhinoceros Menoceras. Early representatives of these immigrant carnivores had not, until recently, been recovered from localities along the Pacific coastal corridor of western North America. Here we report the discovery of a unique skull that establishes the presence of an early Neogene species of Cynelos (C. malasi, sp. nov.) in coastal southern California. The skull shares craniodental features with early Miocene species of the genus in Europe. Dentition (P4-M1-M2) and cranial morphology of Cynelos malasi compare with C. helbingi (southern Germany) and C. lemanensis (France, Germany) but uniquely combine size and occlusal detail to preclude assignment to these species. Cynelos malasi is assigned a latest Arikareean (Ar4) age in the North American Land Mammal Age (NALMA) chronology. By the early Miocene, species of Cynelos had dispersed from western Europe to northern Africa and into western North America. Whether the taxon arrived in North America by following a coastal southern Asian route or by Palaearctic dispersal is unconfirmed. Given the similarity between North American and European species of Cynelos, we suspect that the genus spanned Asia during the early Miocene.http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6F78C042-8C98-47B3-BFD0-E6943A615197

Little Ice Age and recent glacier advances in the Cordillera Darwin, Tierra del Fuego, Chile

Abstract Preliminary fieldwork provides evidence for glacier advances in the Cordillera Darwin during the ‘classic’ Little Ice Age as well as in the late 20th and the early 21st centuries. Little Ice Age advances have been reported at nearby sites in the Patagonian Andes, but previous research claimed that glaciers of the Cordillera Darwin did not advance during ‘classic’ Little Ice Age time, but earlier. The present study indicates that glaciers in the Cordillera Darwin likely followed a similar Little Ice Age chronology as most glaciers in the Patagonian Andes. The recent glacier advances of over 1.5 km are supported by previous work. The reason for these advances remains unclear, especially as clear warming trends are observed in southern South America in the 20th and early 21st centuries. However, similarly to glaciers in Norway and New Zealand that also advanced late in the 20th century, the strength of westerly atmospheric circulation has increased in Patagonia, which led to an increase in precipitation likely offsetting the increase in temperature.

A climate-driven model using time-series analysis of magnetic susceptibility (χ) datasets to represent a floating-point high-resolution geological timescale for the Middle Devonian Eifelian stage

Abstract Presented here are cyclostratigraphic time-series data, using magnetic susceptibility (χ) results from Devonian Moroccan rocks to establish a floating-point age chronology, and a method that can be applied to any geological stage using geochemical or geophysical datasets as a climate proxy. The χ data are fit to an independent uniform climate model for the entire Eifelian Stage. The procedure used comprised: (a) definition of a uniform c. 405 kyr eccentricity climate model for the Eifelian, with a published duration for the Eifelian; and (b) graphical testing of the model using χ data derived from outcrop samples, here including data from the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Emsian–Eifelian and Eifelian–Givetian stage boundaries, and an overlapping succession from Bou Tchrafine, Morocco. The time-series methods used here identify χ cycles that conform to the c. 405 kyr by graphically comparing the χ zonation with the climate model. Well-established conodont zonations developed using graphic correlation are then compared with this model, allowing time estimates for Eifelian conodont zone ranges. The time-series data indicate that the Eifelian Stage in the Middle Devonian lasted for c. 6.28 myr, the Lower Eifelian Choteč bio-event lasted for c. 600 kyr, and the Kačák bio-event in the Upper Eifelian lasted for c. 370 kyr.