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
“…S6). www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Thera is a well-known case, but there are many other instances of high-resolution 14 C chronologies key to Mediterranean and Near Eastern pre-and proto-history 7,8,18,21,33,[57][58][59][60][61][62][63] . Our examples highlight the need to determine a high-resolution Mediterranean-Near Eastern 14 C record in order to clarify the question of fluctuating small offsets as relevant to regional 14 C levels over time.…”
Section: Radiocarbon Offsets and Mediterranean Chronology The Valuesmentioning
The new IntCal20 radiocarbon record continues decades of successful practice by employing one calibration curve as an approximation for different regions across the hemisphere. Here we investigate three radiocarbon time-series of archaeological and historical importance from the Mediterranean-Anatolian region, which indicate, or may include, offsets from IntCal20 (~0-22 14 C years). While modest, these differences are critical for our precise understanding of historical and environmental events across the Mediterranean Basin and Near East. Offsets towards older radiocarbon ages in Mediterranean-Anatolian wood can be explained by a divergence between high-resolution radiocarbon dates from the recent generation of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) versus dates from previous technologies, such as low-level gas proportional counting (LLGPC) and liquid scintillation spectrometry (LSS). However, another reason is likely differing growing season lengths and timings, which would affect the seasonal cycle of atmospheric radiocarbon concentrations recorded in different geographic zones. Understanding and correcting these offsets is key to the welldefined calendar placement of a Middle Bronze Age tree-ring chronology. This in turn resolves longstanding debate over Mesopotamian chronology in the earlier second millennium BCE. Last but not least, accurate dating is needed for any further assessment of the societal and environmental impact of the Thera/Santorini volcanic eruption. The 2020 International Northern Hemisphere (NH) Radiocarbon (14 C) Calibration curve, IntCal20, forms the current basis to calendar ages for many scientific fields from 0 to 55 kyr ago 1,2. IntCal20 continues the longstanding assumption that a single 14 C calibration curve is applicable to the mid-latitudes of the NH 1-4. However, there are indications of small, fluctuating, 14 C offsets which, at high-resolution, may affect accurate 14 C-based chronology in some mid-latitude regions 5-10. Part of such differences may result from inter-laboratory offsets (see Supplementary Discussion 1), or derive from differences between recent AMS 14 C measurements versus those from previous 14 C dating technologies. Another part is inferred as a representation of the differing parts of the intra-annual atmospheric 14 C cycle, recorded because of different plant growth seasons or contexts. An example of the latter is the difference between the growth period of tree rings in central and northern Europe and northern America that comprise the Holocene IntCal record (spring through summer), versus those of many
“…S6). www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Thera is a well-known case, but there are many other instances of high-resolution 14 C chronologies key to Mediterranean and Near Eastern pre-and proto-history 7,8,18,21,33,[57][58][59][60][61][62][63] . Our examples highlight the need to determine a high-resolution Mediterranean-Near Eastern 14 C record in order to clarify the question of fluctuating small offsets as relevant to regional 14 C levels over time.…”
Section: Radiocarbon Offsets and Mediterranean Chronology The Valuesmentioning
The new IntCal20 radiocarbon record continues decades of successful practice by employing one calibration curve as an approximation for different regions across the hemisphere. Here we investigate three radiocarbon time-series of archaeological and historical importance from the Mediterranean-Anatolian region, which indicate, or may include, offsets from IntCal20 (~0-22 14 C years). While modest, these differences are critical for our precise understanding of historical and environmental events across the Mediterranean Basin and Near East. Offsets towards older radiocarbon ages in Mediterranean-Anatolian wood can be explained by a divergence between high-resolution radiocarbon dates from the recent generation of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) versus dates from previous technologies, such as low-level gas proportional counting (LLGPC) and liquid scintillation spectrometry (LSS). However, another reason is likely differing growing season lengths and timings, which would affect the seasonal cycle of atmospheric radiocarbon concentrations recorded in different geographic zones. Understanding and correcting these offsets is key to the welldefined calendar placement of a Middle Bronze Age tree-ring chronology. This in turn resolves longstanding debate over Mesopotamian chronology in the earlier second millennium BCE. Last but not least, accurate dating is needed for any further assessment of the societal and environmental impact of the Thera/Santorini volcanic eruption. The 2020 International Northern Hemisphere (NH) Radiocarbon (14 C) Calibration curve, IntCal20, forms the current basis to calendar ages for many scientific fields from 0 to 55 kyr ago 1,2. IntCal20 continues the longstanding assumption that a single 14 C calibration curve is applicable to the mid-latitudes of the NH 1-4. However, there are indications of small, fluctuating, 14 C offsets which, at high-resolution, may affect accurate 14 C-based chronology in some mid-latitude regions 5-10. Part of such differences may result from inter-laboratory offsets (see Supplementary Discussion 1), or derive from differences between recent AMS 14 C measurements versus those from previous 14 C dating technologies. Another part is inferred as a representation of the differing parts of the intra-annual atmospheric 14 C cycle, recorded because of different plant growth seasons or contexts. An example of the latter is the difference between the growth period of tree rings in central and northern Europe and northern America that comprise the Holocene IntCal record (spring through summer), versus those of many
“…Three 14 C data sets for the later Middle Bronze I and the transition to II are currently available: dates from Tell el-Dab c a itself; dates for the later phases of Middle Bronze I Tel Ifshar in the Sharon Plain (Marcus 2013); and dates for the late Middle Bronze I or Middle Bronze I/II transitional monumental building at Tell el-Burak (Lebanon) (Höflmayer et al 2016). In fact, the 14 C evidence for all three sites is in favor of a higher chronology for the Middle Bronze I/II transition than has been proposed before now.…”
Section: Initial Implications Of the Tel Kabri 14c Datamentioning
confidence: 99%
“…late Middle Bronze I or transitional Middle Bronze I/II) (a detailed discussion of the respective models can be found in Höflmayer [2015]). Figure 9 Modeled date ranges for the transition from Str. G/1-3 to F (late Middle Bronze I) at Tell el-Dab c a based on Kutschera et al (2012) (upper); the transition from Phase G to H (late Middle Bronze I) at Tel Ifshar based on Marcus (2013) and slightly adapted as outlined in Höflmayer (2015) (middle); and end date for the Middle Bronze Age monumental building dated to late Middle Bronze I or Middle Bronze I/II transition based on Höflmayer et al (2016). …”
Section: Initial Implications Of the Tel Kabri 14c Datamentioning
This 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).
“…C ages from Tell el-Ifshar and Tell Nami on the Mediterranean Coastal Plain document settlement~1900-1800 cal BC. Comparable Middle Bronze dates early in the 2nd millennium BC derive from Tell el-Dab'a, Egypt and Tell el-Burak, Lebanon(Höflmayer et al 2016). Two of three 14 C ages from Tell Fadous-Kfarabida, Lebanon (not included inFigure 8) lie very early in the 3rd millennium BC and probably indicate seeds mixed from earlier stratigraphic contexts(Höflmayer et al 2014: 534).…”
Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj, an agrarian Early Bronze IV village in the northern Jordan Valley, Jordan, provides a series of 24 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) seed dates spanning seven stratified phases of occupation. Bayesian analysis of these ages reveals that habitation at Tell Abu en-Ni‘aj began between 2600 and 2500 cal BC and ended just before 2000 cal BC. This sequence provides the longest radiocarbon record of occupation for an Early Bronze IV settlement in the southern Levant and pushes the beginning of the Levantine Early Bronze IV earlier than proposed previously. When integrated with14C dates from an array of sites in the southern Levant, Egypt, and Lebanon, this evidence aligns with recent14C-based chronologies calling for earlier ages for Early Bronze I–III, details Early Bronze IV chronology through the course of this period, and corroborates the date of the Early Bronze IV/Middle Bronze Age transition ~2000 cal BC.
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