Radiocarbon dates and Bayesian modeling support maritime diffusion model for megaliths in Europe

Abstract

There are two competing hypotheses for the origin of megaliths in Europe. The conventional view from the late 19th and early 20th centuries was of a single-source diffusion of megaliths in Europe from the Near East through the Mediterranean and along the Atlantic coast. Following early radiocarbon dating in the 1970s, an alternative hypothesis arose of regional independent developments in Europe. This model has dominated megalith research until today. We applied a Bayesian statistical approach to 2,410 currently available radiocarbon results from megalithic, partly premegalithic, and contemporaneous nonmegalithic contexts in Europe to resolve this long-standing debate. The radiocarbon results suggest that megalithic graves emerged within a brief time interval of 200 y to 300 y in the second half of the fifth millennium calibrated years BC in northwest France, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic coast of Iberia. We found decisive support for the spread of megaliths along the sea route in three main phases. Thus, a maritime diffusion model is the most likely explanation of their expansion.

A model-based approach to the tempo of “collapse”: The case of Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

“…Moving past this generalization requires developing chronological models for these events involved in monument construction activities. Like with many chronological issues in archaeology, formal Bayesian models provide a useful tool to better resolve temporal patterns of monument construction (e.g., Carter et al, 2019;Chirikure et al, 2013;Culleton et al, 2012;Dye, 2016Dye, , 2012Schulz Paulsson, 2019).…”

“…Furthermore, the timing of the cessation of platform ahu construction is poorly understood, given the lack of formal modeling and sporadic and limited historical accounts from the 18th century. Bayesian chronological modeling provides a promising alternative for examining the chronology of ahu on Rapa Nui given the island's short chronology and highly overlapping radiocarbon probability distributions, as well as the approach's explicit aim of incorporating prior information about relative construction components from the dated sequences and ability to formally model the timing of events that are otherwise not directly dated (Dye, 2016(Dye, , 2012Schulz Paulsson, 2019).…”

Patrones de distribución espacial en las necrópolis megalíticas de Majadillas y Hoyas del Conquín (Granada, España). Resultados preliminares

“…El Megalitismo se extendió en Europa occidental entre el 4700 y el 2500 cal. a. C., con perduraciones en algunas áreas más allá de esas fechas (Schulz, 2019). Andalucía es una región rica en yacimientos megalíticos, en número y en diversidad, y en todo su territorio se han encontrado estructuras megalíticas que varían en forma, diseño, ajuares, etc., en el espacio y el tiempo.…”

Análisis estadístico de las dataciones radiocarbónicas de la Motilla del Azuer (Daimiel, Ciudad Real)

“…A partir de los trabajos de A. Bayliss (Bayliss y Whittle, 2007) tal enfoque ha comenzado a ser habitual en los estudios sobre la Prehistoria Reciente del sur de la Península Ibérica (Lull et al, 2010(Lull et al, , 2013Boaventura, 2011;Boaventura y Matalotto, 2013;Aranda y Lozano, 2014;Valera et al, 2014;Jover et al, CPAG 29, 2019, 309-351. ISSN: 2174 2014; Balsera et al, 2015aBalsera et al, , 2015bAranda et al, 2016Aranda et al, , 2017Aranda et al, , 2018Soler, 2016;García Sanjuán et al, 2018;García-Puchol et al, 2018;Schulz-Paulsson, 2019).…”