Towards New Demography Proxies and Regional Chronologies: Radiocarbon Dates from Archaeological Contexts Located in the Czech Republic Covering the Period Between 10,000 BC and AD 1250

Abstract

The dataset described in this paper represents the largest and most comprehensive collection of radiocarbon dates from the Czech Republic to date. The dataset offers 1579 samples from 357 archaeological sites dating from the Early Mesolithic (10,000 BC) to AD 1250. Published in a simple spreadsheet format, it offers researchers a quick tool for further analyses.

Long-term demographic trends and spatio-temporal distribution of past human activity in Central Europe: Comparison of archaeological and palaeoecological proxies

“…Radiocarbon dates from archaeological contexts and SPDs are routinely used for relative estimates of human population, therefore we collected for this purpose a database covering the Holocene for the entire Czech Republic (Tkáč and Kolář, 2021b). For this paper, we used mostly samples from short-lived organisms (humans, animals, non-woody plants).…”

“…In the next step, we randomly assigned the calendar year to each component within the temporal range of a specific period, phase, or archaeological culture (Tkáč and Kolář, 2021b), assuming a uniform probability of component dating within period limits. A grid cell was considered as occupied in a particular 500-year period if at least one component was assigned to the given period and grid cell.…”

Neolithic Settlements in Central Europe: Data from the Project ‘Lifestyle as an Unintentional Identity in the Neolithic’

“…The density of radiocarbon dates is still low for some of the studied periods and/or regions and thus it was not yet possible to fully integrate these two types of evidence. For a comprehensive collection of radiocarbon dates from the Czech Republic see [2]. (…”

“…The reuse potential is somewhat limited by the temporal uncertainty in this evidence given that the time dimension is represented only by relative chronological phases. This is because radiocarbon dates are still largely missing for some of the chronological phases and/or regions [1,2] and enhancing this settlement data with radiocarbon dates would show temporal dynamics in unprecedented detail.…”

Demographic dynamics between 5500 and 3500 calBP (3550–1550 BCE) in selected study regions of Central Europe and the role of regional climate influences

“…In recent years, there has been increasing interest in studying past demographic patterns to understand how population growth and decline are associated with cultural change [ 1 – 5 ], increases or decreases in social complexity [ 6 , 7 ], and/or changes in food production [ 3 , 8 , 9 ]. In this context, summed probability distributions (SPD) of calibrated archaeological radiocarbon dates are of particular importance and have been applied to a wide range of regional (Iberian Peninsula: [ 10 , 11 ]; Italy and Levant: [ 12 , 13 ]; Czech Republic: [ 14 ]; Ireland: [ 15 ]; Norway: [ 16 ]; Southern Germany/Switzerland: [ 17 ]; Japan: [ 18 ]; Mediterranean: [ 19 ]; Central Balkans: [ 20 , 21 ] and transregional or pan-European studies: [ 3 , 22 – 27 ].…”