Chronological Evidence Research Articles

The Prehistoric Exploration and Colonization of Fuego-Patagonia

The main goal of this paper is to review the earliest archaeological evidence for the presence of humans in Fuego-Patagonia. The paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic framework is briefly introduced, followed by a discussion of its relevance to understanding the exploration and colonization of Fuego-Patagonia. Technological and faunal evidence from a number of sites from the southern extreme older than 10,000 B.P. is analyzed. This leads to the conclusion that an early entry, at least 12,000 years old, appears best to accommodate the available chronological evidence. On the other hand, data from the Northern fringes of Patagonia clearly suggest an earlier human colonization.

14C Age of Glaciation in Estrecho De Magallanes–Bahía Inútil, Chile

Basal 14C dates from a core of the mire at Puerto del Hambre (53°36'21″S, 70°55'53″W), located within the area of glaciation in Estrecho de Magallanes–Bahía Inútil, Chile, are no older than 14,455 ± 115 yr BP. The 14C dates are on samples from which screening isolated autochthonous plant remains. Previous 14C dates of 15,800 ± 200, 16,590 ± 320, and 16,290 ± 140 yr BP are from bulk samples collected from similar basal increments at the site during 3 separate, independent coring operations. The previous suite of 14C dates was suspected to be contaminated by older carbon in the light of chronological evidence, which indicates a 14C age of approximately 14,850 yr BP for glaciation elsewhere in southern Chile. Contamination by “infinitely old” carbon reworked from nearby Tertiary beds and redeposited at Puerto del Hambre is evidently the cause for the older 14C dates.

Selected Australian continental-scale lineaments: Observations and suggestions as to their origin

Australia is transected by a network of systematic continental-scale lineaments that are considered to be zones of concentrated, aligned tectonic activity which have apparent continuity over vast distances. The dominant directions form an orthogonal pair trending west-northwest and north-northeast: the King Leopold and Halls Creek Mobile Zones in northwestern Australia are an example of this. The consistent distribution of large-scale gravity and geological lineaments implies a common basement involvement for both, despite their expression at different levels within the crust. Continental-scale lineaments generally exhibit little to no offset where they intersect each other, suggesting an oscillatory history with little net offset. Geologic and chronological evidence demonstrate that many of the lineaments have been zones of reactivation since at least the Early Proterozoic (∼1880 Ma) and that they appear to cross major terrane boundaries. The lineaments have been sites of early tectonic activity that have undergone reactivation, resulting in repeated structural and depocentre control that is geographically associated with the continental-scale corridors. Alternative models for the origin of continental-scale lineaments include: a) a pre-existing lineament network maintained in an ancient basement underlying the entire continent; b) lateral propagation of crustal-scale structures; and c) alignment of genetically unrelated lineaments giving the appearance of continuity.

Before the Florescence

AbstractThe period preceding the Terminal Classic florescence in the Puuc region of Yucatan, Mexico has not received adequate research attention. Recent comprehensive site survey and excavation at Chac II (Chac) are exploring Puuc origins and have begun to redress the lack of chronological understanding regarding the region by independently linking architectural styles to ceramic sequences via a program of absolute dating. Results to date suggest that Chac was a significant Early Classic center (a.d.300–600) that also experienced a major Late Classic (a.d.600–800) occupation. Multiple lines of chronological evidence, including buildings with a mix of early architectural styles and associated pre-Cehpech and Cehpech ceramics (a.d.800–1000) within sealed architectural and stratigraphic contexts, suggest a period of architectural transition and the antecedents of Cehpech ceramics dating to the sixth century. These new chronological data and associated evidence for foreign contacts perhaps reaching to central Mexico argue for the assignment of a Middle Classic period (a.d.500–700) to the region, with broad evolutionary implications for Puuc origins and pan-Mesoamerican contacts.

The Chronological Evidence for the Introduction of Domestic Stock into Southern Africa

This essay reviews radiocarbon dates associated with the earliest evidence of domestic stock in southern Africa and reviews existing models for their introduction in light of the current evidence. Two primary models exist for the introduction of domestic stock into southern Africa: an early Khoisan wave and an Early Iron Age source. Neither model is completely supported by the evidence. Available chronological evidence suggests that Khoisan and Iron Age herders simultaneously ushered domestic stock into the northern and eastern regions of southern Africa. Early Iron Age groups in southern Zambia are likely external sources. Khoisan herders exclusively introduced domestic stock into Namibia and the Cape. However, in the northern and eastern regions of southern Africa, stock possession and transfers probably were complex and involved both Khoisan and Iron Age groups.

Strain partitioning and metamorphism in a deformable orogenic wedge: Application to the Alpine belt

Various processes have been proposed in the literature to explain the exhumation and preservation of blueschist and eclogitic facies rocks. Among these processes, corner flow circulation within an accretionary wedge is frequently advocated. In the Alpine collisional belt, geological, petrological and chronological evidences indicate that high-pressure low-temperature metamorphic rocks have been generated in the subduction zones which existed before the collisional event. Indeed, the internal part of the Alps have been compared to the inner zone of modern accretionary prisms. In order to discuss the corner flow circulation model and its applications to the internal part of the Alps taking into account the metamorphic and structural data, we have numerically explored in a deformable orogenic wedge: (1) the possible generation of HP-LT metamorphism in this context and the PTt paths related to the exhumation process; (2) the duration of the exhumation; and (3) the strain partitioning and the related geometries imposed by this circulation. The velocity field is computed from mass conservation law. No attempt has been made to include variable viscosity. We show that: (1) HP-LT metamorphism can be achieved in the computed conditions, PTt paths differ according to the velocity of subduction; (2) the exhumation process lasts less than 15 Ma and generates high strains which erase the initial deformation phases; and (3) metamorphic and structural data from the internal part of the Alps are compatible with the numerical constraints.

New chronological evidence for the nature and timing of linear dune development in the southwest Kalahari Desert

The age of the linear dunes in the southwest Kalahari Desert has not previously been directly established. By applying the optical dating method to samples from the dunefield a number of questions relating to the timing and nature of linear dune development are addressed. The last major period of simple linear dune development occurred 17,000–10,000 years ago, probably from the reworking of earlier aeolian sediments. Dune emplacement occurred under more arid, probably windier, conditions than those prevailing today, which are only responsible for episodic surficial dune sand movement. As well as simple linear dunes, the dunefield also contains more complex linear dune patterns. Samples from one area in the eastern dunefield demonstrate that multi-phase development is more probable for complex dune patterns as opposed to single-phase evolution under a complex wind regime.

Multiple episodes of aridity in southern Africa since the last interglacial period

There is generally a dearth of evidence of the nature of Quaternary climate change within desert systems, which has limited previous interpretations of past environmental change at low latitudes. The Last Glacial Maximum has previously been identified as the peak of Late Quaternary aridity, when desert systems expanded to five times their present extent1,2,3, and low-latitude aridity has been described for previous glaciations4. But little evidence has been derived directly for large desert basins, particularly southern Africa. Here we report new chronological (optical dating) evidence of arid episodes recorded in aeolian sediments from the Mega Kalahari sand sea. Episodic aeolian activity is recorded at the northeastern desert margin, whereas more sustained activity is evident from the southwestern desert core. Several significant arid events are apparent since the last interglacial period, with dune-building (arid) phases at ∼95–115, 41–46, 20–26 and 9–16 kyr before present. Existing atmospheric general circulation model simulations and independent palaeoclimate data indicate that the changes in aridity are related to changes in the northeast–southwest summer rainfall gradient, which are in turn related to sea surface temperatures in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean.

Book review: 'Laterculus Malalianus' and the School of Archbishop Theodore

Reviewed by: The ‘Laterculus Malalianus’ and the School of Archbishop Theodore Clyde Curry Smith Jane Stevenson. The ‘Laterculus Malalianus’ and the School of Archbishop Theodore. Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England 14. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Pp. xiii + 254. $59.95. The Latin word “laterculus” meant “small brick” or “tile,” and does not appear to have been used classically in any other sense than for a parcel of surveyed land. In the mediaeval sense as applied to a “listing,” especially a “computus” [Easter calculation table], Theodor Mommsen used the term both for that Laterculus Veronensis [“list of Roman Princes”; MGH AA 9 (1882) I 511–551] dedicated by Polemius Silvius (circa 448) to Eucherius, bishop of Lyons (434–450)—a valuable adjunct to the Notitia Dignitatum which imaged the empire of Diocletian (284–305); and for the presently reedited Laterculus Malalianus [MGH AA 13 (1898) III 424–437]—of a considerably distinctive character, though, by virtue of its translational use of the Greek Chronographia of John Malalas (c. 490–577), containing in its final section (25) a list with years of Roman rulers from Augustus to the ninth of Justin II (44 b.c.e. to c.e. 574). The text had been edited by Mommsen from the only known manuscript [Vatican, Pal. Lat. 277, dated c. 700], which included works of Isidore of Seville [End Page 294] (c. 560–636), though earlier by Cardinal Angelo Mai in an emended fashion, so that its “vulgar” Latin met classical standards, within Patrologia Latina [94: 1161–1174] among the works of the Northumbrian Bede (c. 673–735). The present edition [pp. 119–161, with English translation on facing even pages, and material from Malalas in italics] and detailed commentary [pp. 162–229] make use of a second manuscript [copied about 800 from the Vatican text] found among a miscellany of Greek items [Leiden, Voss. Misc. 11]. While Malalas is nowhere mentioned by name, his Book Ten forms the base of sections 1–11 of this text. Cited are sources Malalas employed: Clemens, Theophilus, Timotheus, and especially Eusebius Pamphilus; and but two others: Ephraem Syrus and Epiphanius. Stevenson has difficulty accepting the first two, since to her “no historical work has survived from either author,” neglecting thereby the chronological lists in Stromateis [I 144.4] and in Ad Autolycum [III 27]. But that point is moot since none of these sources have chronological reliability. The whole brief work is focussed upon an interpretation of the total age of the world to the Passion (6000 years) and of the life of Christ, placing that exactly within the chronology of his Roman world. But it cannot be said that her summary (p. 190f. n. 92), following on Jack Finegan [Handbook of Biblical Chronology (1964)] as she so regularly does, even with a nod to John Knight Fotheringham [“The Evidence of Astronomy and Technical Chronology for the Date of the Crucifixion,” JTS 35 (1934), 146–61], solves once and for all the thorny chronological problems of Jesus’ lifespan. One could prefer the much-neglected Albert Ten Eyck Olmstead [“The Chronology of Jesus’ Life,” ATR 24 (1942), 1–26; cf. Jesus in the Light of History (1942)], who remains the more rigorous historian of the date of the crucifixion, while that of the advent requires a more serious view of the dating of Publius Sulpicius Quirinius as legate of Syria [c.e. 6] than either Olmstead or Finegan, and thus Stevenson [cf. Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd ed.; 1996), 1455]. Major exegetical annotations beyond the Chronographia of Malalas appear in sections 2, 7, and 8. Respectively, we learn: of the concatenation of events belonging to the Vernal Equinox [calculated “on the eighth of the kalends of April” (= 25 March) and including the precise conception of Jesus, his crucifixion, the creation of the world, the passage of Israel through the Red Sea, the casting down from heaven of the devil and his angels, and the throwing down of James, brother of Jesus, from the pinnacle of the temple], of the chronology of the “flight into Egypt” and return, and of the death of Joseph in the twelfth year of Jesus after the going up to the temple...

Stratigraphic architecture resulting from Late Quaternary evolution of the Riverine Plain, south‐eastern Australia

ABSTRACTThe Riverine Plain of south‐eastern Australia is the result of prolonged Cenozoic fluvial activity. Single thread, anabranching and distributary channels and floodplains, and associated aeolian dunes, characterize the uppermost sequences. Based on detailed interpretations of Late Quaternary fluvial sedimentation and surficial stratigraphy for this 77 000‐km2 basin, earlier ‘prior stream’ and ‘ancestral stream’ models of fluvial deposition, deduced from limited stratigraphic and chronological evidence, are replaced with aggradational palaeochannel and migrational palaeochannel models. Thermoluminescence dating reveals four distinct phases of palaeochannel activity between 105 and 12 ka; the first (Coleambally phase) late in Oxygen Isotope Stage 5, the second (Kerarbury phase) in Stage 3, the third (Gum Creek phase) before and the fourth (Yanco phase) after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in Stage 2. The first three of these phases were characterized by mixed‐load laterally migrating sinuous palaeochannels with occasional transitions to a straighter bedload‐dominated mode, and vice versa. The first two phases concluded with a bedload‐dominated episode resulting in aggradational palaeochannels on the surface of the Plain, and the third phase (prior to the LGM) did also in its downstream reaches. The phase following the LGM was characterized entirely by large mixed‐load sinuous migrational palaeochannels. These exhibited no terminating bedload episode, because the onset of Holocene climates reduced the size of the flood peaks, greatly diminished the supply of bedload from the upper catchments and resulted in streams evolving to their present highly sinuous suspended load form. The result is a complex stratigraphic architecture consisting of vertically and laterally accreted units extending over hundreds of kilometres in the form of channel‐sand stringers, sand sheets and derivative aeolian dunes partially or wholly encased in overbank fines.

Evolution of a machair landscape: pollen and related studies from Benbecula, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

ABSTRACTLow altitude sandy plains (machair) are a common feature of the Atlantic coasts of the Outer Hebrides. They formed as a result of shoreward movement of material consequent upon a rise in Holocene sea levels. A number of earlier, partially inconclusive, investigations into machair evolution proposed that fuller understanding could arise from an examination of inter-tidal organic deposits, in so far as these could provide a fossil proxy record of the processes involved in machair formation. Study of a series of inter-tidal peats sites located on a beach platform at Borve, island of Benbecula, provided both spatial and chronological evidence for sand movement as well as furnishing new data on vegetational and environmental history. The pollen diagrams show a flora in whichCalluna vulgaris(heather) and Poaceae (grass) are frequent dominants, while such arbroeal taxa asBetula(birch) andCorylus avellana-type(cf. hazel) are notable. The existence of birch–hazel woodland for the periodc.8855–6190 BP might conceivably have had a retarding effect on sand movement. Later cycles of sand movement would not have met such obstruction with the consequence that sand mobility and machair plain evolution could have been faster. Sand arrival at the seaward site (Borve 3), is dated toc.6735 BP and it continued untilc.6045 BP, after which it slowed before increasing again from around 5990 BP. This sand incursion produced a machair plain over the Borve sites as part of a continuous, but variously paced, marine and aeolian process. The presence of charcoal from c. 6860 BP, with a major increase in charcoal to pollen ratios by 6190 BP, may suggest that natural or intentional burning of the vegetation cover of the machair occurred in Mesolithic times; if the burning was anthropogenic in origin, then it pushes the possible involvement of humans in machair destabilisation to a time long before the previously proposed Neolithic period. A wet slack deposit, dated to 3400 ± 70 BP, indicates a time when sand movement overwhelmed the area around the landward site (Borve 1) and when the rate of sand movement was likely to have been impeded. The data from Borve suggest that evolution of machair landforms occurs at a slow, variable rate and that there is considerable long-term stability.

Holocene vegetation of the Van area: palynological and chronological evidence from S�?�tl�, Turkey

Evidence of the terrestrial pollen precipitation in the Van area, obtained from the marsh of Sogutlu, is compared with the lacustrine record from Lake Van, eastern Turkey. The radiocarbon chronology of the vegetation history of the Van area is compared with that from varve counting. The first method produced the most probable results, supported by palynological investigations in other parts of Turkey and Iran. The combination of radiocarbon dating and palynological correlation dates the sediments of Lake Van 1100 to 2200 years older than the varve dating. The indicator value of Cerealia-type pollen as evidence of prehistoric agriculture is discussed and compared with results from observations on modern crops. In the present study, Cerealia-type pollen may have been produced by wild grasses growing in the marsh.

Environmental and Chronological Factors in the Mesa Verde-Northern Rio Grande Migration

This paper assesses the timing of and the environmental conditions pertaining to a purported migration from the Mesa Verde Region to the Northern Rio Grande Region in the late 13th Century. The concept of an "environmental gradient" extending from one region to the other is presented and developed. Environmental and chronological data derived from dendrochronology are used to examine the possibilities of an environmental "push" and a "pull" occurring at the targeted time. Chronological evidence suggests that the depopulation likely began in the early 1200s but was complete before 1300. Considerable evidence, however, exists for an environmental gradient of the proper dimensions to help explain population movement toward the Rio Grande.

A pleistocene origin for shore platforms along the Northern Illawarra Coast, New South Wales

SUMMARY This paper examines the composition, structure and age of clastic deposits situated behind shore platforms at Austinmer and Coledale on the northern Illawarra coast, New South Wales. Our results support earlier chronological evidence of a Pleistocene history for shore platforms along the Illawarra coast. The size and fabric of sediments within these deposits indicate rapid, high‐energy deposition of bedrock eroded from platforms adjacent to the deposits. The elevations of the deposits above the modern shoreline suggest higher sea levels or higher wave energy gradients than presently occurs across these platforms. Dating of sediments within these deposits using 14C, AAR and TL techniques indicates Late Pleistocene and Late Holocene erosion of the shore platforms. Platform development was initiated before the Last Interglacial as correlative sediments lie atop relict platform surfaces landward of the modern platforms.

New AMS dates, stratigraphic correlations and decadal climatic cycles for the past 4 ka at Lake Turkana, Kenya

New AMS radiocarbon dates and stratigraphic correlations of 7 piston cores recovered from Lake Turkana, East Africa, show that the frequency of cyclic variability is greater than previously reported for a single piston core. Almost 60 new AMS dates of various carbonate fractions indicate that large (150 μm) ostracode carapaces yield the most accurate chronology for the sediment record due to the input of “old” fine-grained carbonate. Stratigraphic correlations among the cores by carbonate abundance and magnetic susceptibility profiles provide supporting evidence for the ostracode-based chronology. This chronology refines earlier estimates of sediment accumulation that impacts the recurrence interval of lamination deposition from one lamination every two years to one lamination per year in two north basin cores. The record of carbonate content within the north basin of the lake reflect its dilution with terrigenous sediments input from the Omo River but direct paleoclimatic interpretations are complicated by lateral migrations of the delta channels with changing lake levels. Time-series analysis of both individual cores and a combined carbonate profile show significant spectral peaks at 1000, 76, 32, 22, 18.6 and 11 yr. The latter three suggest an important link between the sediments accumulating in Lake Turkana and global cycles of climatic variability.

The earliest occupation of Europe: a short chronology

A reappraisal of the artefactual and chronological evidence for the earliest occupation of Europe — with proper attention to its limitations and its reliability — makes for a short chronology. The first solid traces of hominid activities in this part of the world are around 500,000 years old.

Mineralogy and 39Ar- 40Ar age of an old pristine basalt: Thermal history of the HED parent body

Previous investigations of mineral chemistry and Rb Sr and Sm Nd ages indicated that clast,84 from eucrite Yamato 75011 had preserved the pristine nature of its initial crystallization during an early stage of the HED parent body. Microscale mineralogy and 39Ar- 40Ar ages of this clast, however, revealed local disturbance of micrtextures and partially reset ages. This evidence suggests that, in addition to initial crystallization and rapid cooling, the Y75011,84 clast experienced shock deformation, reheating of short duration at higher temperature, and brecciation. These characteristics suggest two or more impact events. Fe-rich olivine filling fractures in pyroxene may have been introduced during the accompanying shock fracturing. The inferred 39Ar- 40Ar degassing ages for Y75011 matrix and clast,84 are 3.94 ± 0.04 Ga and 3.98 ± 0.03 Ga, respectively. The suggested degassing age for a clast from Y790020, believed to be paired with Y75011, is ∼ 4.03 Ga, but could be younger. We consider it likely that all three samples experienced a common degassing event 3.95 ± 0.05 Ga ago, but we cannot rule out two or more events spaced over a ∼ 0.1 Ga interval. Higher temperature extractions of the two clast samples show significantly older apparent ages up to ∼ 4.5 Ga and suggest that the time/temperature regime of this event was not sufficient to degas Ar totally. Most likely, the K-Ar ages were reset by thermal metamorphism associated with one or more impact events associated with shock fracturing, formation of Fe-rich olivine veins, and/or meteorite brecciation. The pyroxene annealing that commonly occurs in many eucrites is likely to be a much earlier process than the impact-produced textural changes and reset K-Ar ages observed in these meteorites. The existence of mineralogical and chronological evidence for metamorphism in an otherwise pristine eucrite suggests that the HED parent body experienced an extensive degree of early cratering.

Last interglacial sea levels on the south coast of New South Wales

SUMMARY Remnants of the Last Interglacial shoreline occur at Middle Lagoon on the far south coast of New South Wales. Relict beach sediments can be traced to a height of at least +4.8 m and are indicative of a former mean sea level of about +3 m. Thermoluminescence (TL) ages of 126 ± 13 ka and 114 ± 15 ka were determined for beach and aeolian facies respectively. Sands in the lower part of an exposure on the adjacent Gillards Beach gave TL ages of 108 ± 13 ka, but sands in the upper part of that exposure gave an age of 19.9 ± 3.5 ka. This chronological evidence of a stratigraphic unconformity in what was initially taken as pedogenic differentiation at Gillards Beach is supported by contrasting electron traps and colour centres in crystal lattices of quartz grains in these two samples. No tectonic displacement is apparent. This site provides the first evidence of the Last Interglacial sea level for 1000 km along the coast between Gippsland and Newcastle.

Theoretical constraints and chronological evidence of Holocene coastal development in central and southern New South Wales, Australia

Holocene coastal evolution in New South Wales has been interpreted essentially as the unfolding of the impact of marine transgression. Sea level on this coast supposedly reached its present height at 6–6.5 ka, and varied < 1 m since then. The early Holocene rise of the sea has been considered the key factor (“forcing function”) in dune migration, coastal sand barrier development, and the evolution of estuaries. Episodic storminess during the late Holocene has been seen as an important, though secondary, factor in beach erosion and dune mobilisation. An alternate interpretation presented here challenges the concept of the marine transgression as the primary “forcing function”. It (a) attributes early Holocene dune mobilisation to climate rather than the rising sea; (b) shows that the sea reached its present level by 7 ka and rose to at least + 2 m until ∼ 1.5 ka; (c) links late Holocene dune activity to local disruption of vegetation rather than to regional episodic storminess; (d) demonstrates a fall of 2°C in sea surface temperature after 3 ka that coincides with the onset of barrier erosion; (e) recognises the imprint of at least three tsunamis in the coastal sedimentary record.

Granulation and Glass: Chronological and Stylistic Investigations at Selected Sites, ca. 2500-1400 B. C. E.

This article discusses major granulation finds in the ancient world from ca. 2500 to 1400 B. C. E., and explores this technique for its usefulness as an index of culture and date. Sophisticated use of glass at the end of this time period (ca. 1600-1400 B. C. E.) is also reviewed as it occurs with granulation and is part of the emerging glassmaking industry. The chronological evidence for all finds is discussed; the most complicated finds are from Assur, Tod, Dashur, Byblos, Trialeti, Ebla, Ajjûl, and Nuzi. Although the technique of granulation and possibly the technology of glassmaking arose outside Egypt, examples from Egypt are significant because of Egypt's cultural stability and preservation of data.