•Radiocarbon dating of two consecutive settlements, Chalcolithic, present-day Bulgaria.•Short-lived remains / grains versus timber; radiocarbon data limits and correlations.•Generating of sub-sample ...populations; their role in assessing absolute chronology.
The main aim of the recent research of the Prehistoric Tell at the village of Ivanovo, Shumen District is to clarify the complex stratigraphy and cultural history of the site, one of the 83 Prehistoric settlements unearthed in this region of present-day Bulgaria. To solve the particular situation of two horizons, we used conventional research, such as observations on the stratigraphy and the main characteristics of the pottery, and radiocarbon dating method. The paper focuses on radiocarbon dating of two consecutively existing superimposed buildings – Building 1 from horizon VIII (1/VIII) and Building 2 from horizon VII (2/VII). Even if all samples were initially characterized by the nature of archaeological material and by their calibrated ages, the laboratory strategy finally chose only a few data for refining relative chronology and gain a better understanding of the stratigraphy. The use of the OxCal program functions allowed the selection and combination of reliable radiocarbon data and the establishment of an objective criteria demonstrating the chronological succession of the two constructions and why they cannot be considered contemporary.
The two fundamental cultural developments of the Danube region in the second half of the 6th millennium cal BC, namely the emergence of the Vinča culture and the formation and spread of the LBK in ...Central Europe, are among the most contentious issues of European Neolithic archaeology. Although the relationship between the two cultures has often been emphasised, its true nature is yet to be explored. One principal obstacle is the spatial gap: research has yet failed to establish a direct geographic link between Vinča and LBK settlement patterns along the Danube. From this point of view, the discovery of the intense presence of the early Vinča culture in southernmost Transdanubia was particularly significant. In this region, an active zone of contacts between Vinča and LBK type material cultures can be detected from the mid-54th century cal BC. The sites of Szederkény-Kukorica-dűlő, Versend-Gilencsa and Szemely-Irtás in the Southern Baranya Hills (South Hungary) were pivotal in gaining a better understanding of these phenomena. The investigated sites revealed typical longhouse architecture, an emblematic feature of the LBK universe, meanwhile the associated material culture belonged primarily to the Vinča and Ražište styles or revealed their combination with Starčevo and LBK types. The coalescence of different technological traditions and styles in individual objects, creating unique, ‘hybrid’ solutions, has also been observed. This paper presents various types of phenomena (settlement structure, technology and style, ritual objects, burials) demonstrating movements, mutual influences, the amalgamation of practices, and the diffusion of artefacts in the second half of 6th millennium cal BC.
The study presents the evaluation of a radiocarbon series, currently unparalleled in the research of the early medieval Carpathian Basin, which comprises data from the 7th to the 10th century AD. We ...provide a data set that, when combined with the radiocarbon data available in the related literature, covers the period in focus. The results of its analysis can be considered novel in several respects: 1) the radiocarbon data sequence and the relative chronological framework established for the Late Avar Period concord, 2) based on the radiocarbon sequence, the Middle Avar Period in certain large cemeteries (i.e., Tiszafüred-Majoros) started considerably earlier than it was assumed previously, based on ‘Middle Avar Period’ elite graves—and, interestingly, earlier even than the coin-dated ‘Middle Avar’ elite grave horizon, and 3) the data of the latest grave horizon in Avar cemeteries suggests a similar asynchronism between the related sites. The data set allows one to draw preliminary conclusions about the trends of the early medieval cultural and social transformations in the Carpathian Basin and outline ‘innovative’ groups which, by maintaining contacts with diverse regions outside the Carpathian Basin, played a central role in these processes.
Zusammenfassung Dank einer langen Geschichte der Erforschung der Herkunft, der Verteilungsnetze und der Bewertung der kulturellen Bedeutung von Bernstein, nimmt die Informationsmenge über die ...Komplexität der Tauschnetzwerke im bronzezeitlichen Europa stetig zu. Die vorliegende Studie stellt die nächste Stufe in der Entwicklung der Forschung zu diesem Thema dar. Sie präsentiert eine Synthese des bisherigen Wissens über das Vorkommen von Bernstein in der Frühbronzezeit auf dem Gebiet der heutigen Slowakei sowie neue Erkenntnisse über die Herkunft des Rohmaterials und die absolute Chronologie der Funde von drei ausgewählten Fundstellen im östlichen Teil des Landes. Auf der Grundlage der gewonnenen Informationen werden Schlüsselfragen im Zusammenhang mit der Herkunft des Bernsteins, dem Kontext seiner Ablagerung und den chronologischen Mechanismen seiner Verbreitung im untersuchten Gebiet diskutiert. Die erzielten Ergebnisse sind ermutigend genug, um die Anfänge der Bernsteinannahme, seine weitere Wahrnehmung und Bewertung durch Tauschstrategien zu vergleichen und zu klären, wobei Bernstein eher als Nebenprodukt eines komplexeren Handelssystems bereitgestellt zu werden scheint, das sich in erster Linie auf den Metalltausch konzentriert.
The Egyptian state was formed prior to the existence of verifiable historical records. Conventional dates for its formation are based on the relative ordering of artefacts. This approach is no longer ...considered sufficient for cogent historical analysis. Here, we produce an absolute chronology for Early Egypt by combining radiocarbon and archaeological evidence within a Bayesian paradigm. Our data cover the full trajectory of Egyptian state formation and indicate that the process occurred more rapidly than previously thought. We provide a timeline for the First Dynasty of Egypt of generational-scale resolution that concurs with prevailing archaeological analysis and produce a chronometric date for the foundation of Egypt that distinguishes between historical estimates.
Dank einer langen Geschichte der Erforschung der Herkunft, der Verteilungsnetze und der Bewertung der kulturellen Bedeutung von Bernstein, nimmt die Informationsmenge über die Komplexität der ...Tauschnetzwerke im bronzezeitlichen Europa stetig zu. Die vorliegende Studie stellt die nächste Stufe in der Entwicklung der Forschung zu diesem Thema dar. Sie präsentiert eine Synthese des bisherigen Wissens über das Vorkommen von Bernstein in der Frühbronzezeit auf dem Gebiet der heutigen Slowakei sowie neue Erkenntnisse über die Herkunft des Rohmaterials und die absolute Chronologie der Funde von drei ausgewählten Fundstellen im östlichen Teil des Landes.
Auf der Grundlage der gewonnenen Informationen werden Schlüsselfragen im Zusammenhang mit der Herkunft des Bernsteins, dem Kontext seiner Ablagerung und den chronologischen Mechanismen seiner Verbreitung im untersuchten Gebiet diskutiert. Die erzielten Ergebnisse sind ermutigend genug, um die Anfänge der Bernsteinannahme, seine weitere Wahrnehmung und Bewertung durch Tauschstrategien zu vergleichen und zu klären, wobei Bernstein eher als Nebenprodukt eines komplexeren Handelssystems bereitgestellt zu werden scheint, das sich in erster Linie auf den Metalltausch konzentriert.
The absolute chronology of Early Bronze Age in the Levant has been the object of a major revision (Regev et al. 2012a), which implied an increase of at least two centuries in respect of traditional ...chronology. Such a shift back was based upon two sites (Tel Yarmouth, Megiddo) which were the backbone of the “reform,” but actually do not offer complete sequences for the whole EBA. This was the weakest stone of the revision, together with a partial understanding of stratigraphy/contexts from where samples were taken. Tell es-Sultan/Jericho in Palestine was included in this study, as this prominent archaeological site provided well stratified 14C dates for EBA. Its stratigraphy, established by Kathleen M. Kenyon in the 1950s, was reappraised by the Sapienza University of Rome–Palestinian MOTA-DACH joint Expedition (1997–2018). Published 14C dates were reanalyzed along with new samples from carefully stratified and published archaeological contexts, measured by the CEDAD Laboratory (University of Salento, Lecce, Italy). They provided absolute dates connected with stratigraphy useful to double-check the proposed High Chronology. EBA stratigraphic periodization at Jericho suggests a more cautious approach and keeps a multi-based chronology more consistent with a comprehensive historical reconstruction of the Early Bronze Age in Syria-Palestine and Egypt.
Over the past few decades, several excavations that have been performed in the Fars Neolithic sites have resulted in the presentation of different chronologies for the region. Most of the research in ...Fars centered on the Kur River Basin (KRB). Fars has always had a different environment for the formation of different cultures over time, therefore, in order to reach a better understanding of the prehistoric cultures of the region it is necessary to make a brief review of the geographical zones of the plains and valleys of Fars province. Taking into account the existence of several questions and ambiguities regarding Neolithic Fars, the Hormangan site, located in the Bavant River Basin, was excavated. During the excavation, two settlement phases were identified that contained cultural materials relatively comparable to Tol-e Mushki, Tol-e Jari B, Kushk Hezar, and Rahmat Abad sequences. The goal of this paper is to explore the absolute chronology of the Hormangan site as well as other Neolithic sites located in the northern half of the Fars region with a special reference to the local cultural and technological sides of different Neolithic sites throughout the region. Bearing in mind the similarities of Bashi materials with Hormangan, Rahmat Abad, and Mushki regions and the absolute chronology of these regions, consideration of Bashi phase does not seem logical. Therefore, by comparing the cultural materials and absolute chronology done in other regions, a sequence chronology including Rahmat Abad (7500–7000 BC), formative Mushki (7000–6400 BC), Mushki (6400–6000 BC), Jari (6000–5600 BC), and Shams Abad (5600–5200 BC) for the Neolithic period of Fars can be presented. According to the excavation of Rahmatabad and Tal-e Sangi, it seems that Fars was inhabited in the middle of the 8th millennium BC and the Neolithic package entered this area, and there is no evidence of the Neolithization process. In the past, the Mushaki period was introduced as the oldest pottery Neolithic period, but with new excavations, it seems that the use of pottery had become common in Fars, as in many parts of Southwest Asia, around 7000 BC.
Excavated in 2018 as part of the western bypass of Strasbourg, the Berstett Langenberg site of nearly two hectares (site no. 5.6 of the project) has revealed occupations dating from the Late ...Neolithic to the Final La Tène period. The Bronze Age occupation is characterised by 43 features spread over almost the entire area, while the 31 Middle Bronze Age features include ten pits, storage pits (11), two possible excavated buildings, three slits and five windfalls. No buildings were found, but areas devoid of features surrounded by pits suggest the location of buildings, as do the remains of cob (earth and wood architecture). The large quantity of ceramic remains uncovered (160 vessels), as well as several radiocarbon dates have made it possible to better characterise the typochronology of the ensembles for the Bronze D and the transition from Bronze D to Bronze D. Biogeochemical analysis of the inner walls of ten vessels has revealed animal fats, as well as traces of vegetable oil (Brassicaceae) or resin (Pinaceae). In addition to the large quantity of pottery, which makes the site a reference point, other objects unearthed (lithics, fauna) provide supplementary information as to the late Middle Bronze Age settlement for which little is known in eastern France.
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