Dataset Information

Towards an absolute chronology for the Aegean iron age: new radiocarbon dates from Lefkandi, Kalapodi and Corinth.

ABSTRACT: The relative chronology of the Aegean Iron Age is robust. It is based on minute stylistic changes in the Submycenaean, Protogeometric and Geometric styles and their sub-phases. Yet, the absolute chronology of the time-span between the final stages of Late Helladic IIIC in the late second millennium BCE and the archaic colonization of Italy and Sicily toward the end of the 8(th) century BCE lacks archaeological contexts that can be directly related to events carrying absolute dates mentioned in Egyptian/Near Eastern historical sources, or to well-dated Egyptian/Near Eastern rulers. The small number of radiocarbon dates available for this time span is not sufficient to establish an absolute chronological sequence. Here we present a new set of short-lived radiocarbon dates from the sites of Lefkandi, Kalapodi and Corinth in Greece. We focus on the crucial transition from the Submycenaean to the Protogeometric periods. This transition is placed in the late 11(th) century BCE according to the Conventional Aegean Chronology and in the late 12(th) century BCE according to the High Aegean Chronology. Our results place it in the second half of the 11(th) century BCE.

SUBMITTER: Toffolo MB

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3873300 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Towards an absolute chronology for the Aegean iron age: new radiocarbon dates from Lefkandi, Kalapodi and Corinth.

Toffolo Michael B MB Fantalkin Alexander A Lemos Irene S IS Felsch Rainer C S RC Niemeier Wolf-Dietrich WD Sanders Guy D R GD Finkelstein Israel I Boaretto Elisabetta E

PloS one 20131226 12

The relative chronology of the Aegean Iron Age is robust. It is based on minute stylistic changes in the Submycenaean, Protogeometric and Geometric styles and their sub-phases. Yet, the absolute chronology of the time-span between the final stages of Late Helladic IIIC in the late second millennium BCE and the archaic colonization of Italy and Sicily toward the end of the 8(th) century BCE lacks archaeological contexts that can be directly related to events carrying absolute dates mentioned in E ...[more]

PMID: 24386150

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Project description:In archaeological research, changes in material culture and the evolution of styles are taken as major indicators for socio-cultural transformation. They form the basis for typo-chronological classification and the establishment of phases and periods. Central European Bronze Age material culture from burials reveals changes during the Bronze Age and represents a perfect case study for analyzing phenomena of cultural change and the adoption of innovation in the societies of prehistoric Europe. Our study focuses on the large-scale change in material culture which took place in the second millennium BC and the emergence at the same period of new burial rites: the shift from inhumation burials in flat graves to complex mounds and simple cremation burials. Paul Reinecke was the first to divide the European Bronze Age (EBA) into two phases, Bz A1 and A2. The shift from the first to the second phase has so far been ascribed to technical advances. Our study adopted an innovative approach to quantifying this phenomenon. Through regressive reciprocal averaging and Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon-dated grave contexts located in Switzerland and southern Germany, we modelled chronological changes in the material culture and changes in burial rites in these regions in a probabilistic way. We used kernel density models to summarize radiocarbon dates, with the aim of visualizing cultural changes in the third and second millennium BC. In 2015, Stockhammer et al. cast doubt on the chronological sequence of the Reinecke phases of the EBA on the basis of newly collected radiocarbon dates from southern Germany. Our intervention is a direct response to the results of that study. We fully agree with Stockhammer's et al. dating of the start of EBA, but propose a markedly different dating of the EBA/MBA transition. Our modelling of radiocarbon data demonstrates a statistically significant typological sequence of phases Bz A1, Bz A2 and Bz B and disproves their postulated chronological overlap. The linking of the archaeological relative-chronological system with absolute dates is of major importance to understanding the temporal dimension of the EBA phases.

Dataset Information

Towards an absolute chronology for the Aegean iron age: new radiocarbon dates from Lefkandi, Kalapodi and Corinth.

Publications

Towards an absolute chronology for the Aegean iron age: new radiocarbon dates from Lefkandi, Kalapodi and Corinth.

Similar Datasets

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