‘Transition Dating’ – a Heuristic Mathematical Approach to the Collation of Radiocarbon Dates from Stratified Sequences

Abstract

A heuristic approach, nicknamed “transition dating,” was used to date sequences of early Iron Age contexts using a series of 14C determinations. The basic principles of transition dating are simple and intuitive: 1) attempt to date transitions between periods, phases, etc. rather than the phases themselves, and 2) the most plausible date for that transition is one that is later than the dates from contexts preceding it, and is still earlier than the dates succeeding it. Hypotheses regarding the actual date of each transition may be evaluated using an appropriate loss function. These loss functions can also be adjusted or weighted by the user to account differentially for the various factors causing the distortion or “fuzz” in the dates.

Recent radiocarbon results and King Solomon

“…This sample was measured using the conventional LSC method by the Weizmann Institute laboratory. The result was: 2735±40 yBP (Gilboa & Sharon 2001;Sharon 2001). This single measurement is consistent with other measurements of charcoal taken from the same context (idem), but they are not considered here due to their long-range nature.…”

“…In recent years, a large number of samples from several key sites -such as Dor, Rehov, Beth-shean, Tel Hadar and Megiddo -were sent to different laboratories for 14 C analysis. Two important sets of dates -from Dor (Gilboa & Sharon 2001;Sharon 2001) and from Tel Rehov and Beth-shean (Mazar & Carmi 2001) -have recently been published. The data correspond to two destruction horizons (each based on similarities in pottery assemblages) known from several key sites in Northern Israel.…”

Radiocarbon‐dated Destruction Layers: A Skeleton for Iron Age Chronology in the Levant

“…An exceptionally large body of radiocarbon determinations which covers the time‐span c .1130–730 BC is now available (Sharon et al . 2007; Sharon 2001; Gilboa and Sharon 2003; Carmi and Ussishkin 2004; Mazar et al . 2005; Boaretto 2006; Tappy et al .…”

Latest Pleistocene advance and collapse of the Matanuska – Knik glacier system, Anchorage Lowland, southern Alaska

“…This approach employs the stratigraphic order of the samples to determine the most probable age of the moraine. Our method differs from that of Sharon (2001) in that we compute the calibrated probability density functions (PDF) of the radiocarbon dates, instead of the un-calibrated PDFs. For a review of methods for incorporating stratigraphic information into chronology problems see Buck et al (2003).…”