scholarly journals Puzzling Radiocarbon Dates for the Upper Paleolithic Site of Sungir (Central Russian Plain)

Radiocarbon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 451-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaroslav V Kuzmin ◽  
Johannes van der Plicht ◽  
Leopold D Sulerzhitsky

A summary is presented of more than a decade-long study of direct radiocarbon dating for one of the most important human burials in Eurasia, the Sungir site in eastern Europe. Eighteen 14C dates were produced before early 2014 on three skeletons (Sungir 1–3), and there is still no consistency in the results. In the absence of other independent methods to establish the antiquity of Sungir, a careful analysis is performed of the site's stratigraphy, paleoenvironment, and 14C dates run on animal bones from the same layer as the burials. Although the conclusions of this work cannot be guaranteed to be absolutely correct, we suggest that at the present stage of research the age range of ∼26,000–27,210 BP is the most probable time for the creation of the elaborate human burials at the Sungir site.

Radiocarbon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (02) ◽  
pp. 451-459
Author(s):  
Yaroslav V Kuzmin ◽  
Johannes van der Plicht ◽  
Leopold D Sulerzhitsky

A summary is presented of more than a decade-long study of direct radiocarbon dating for one of the most important human burials in Eurasia, the Sungir site in eastern Europe. Eighteen14C dates were produced before early 2014 on three skeletons (Sungir 1–3), and there is still no consistency in the results. In the absence of other independent methods to establish the antiquity of Sungir, a careful analysis is performed of the site's stratigraphy, paleoenvironment, and14C dates run on animal bones from the same layer as the burials. Although the conclusions of this work cannot be guaranteed to be absolutely correct, we suggest that at the present stage of research the age range of ∼26,000–27,210 BP is the most probable time for the creation of the elaborate human burials at the Sungir site.


Radiocarbon ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Pazdur ◽  
Mieczysław F. Pazdur ◽  
Jacek Pawlyta ◽  
Andrzej Górny ◽  
Michał Olszewski

We report preliminary results of a long-term systematic study intended to gather paleoclimatic records from precisely dated speleothems. The research project is limited to speleothems deposited in caves of the Cracow-Wieluń Upland, the largest and best-explored karst region in Poland, covering ca. 2900 km2 with >1000 caves. Speleothem samples were selected from collections of the Geological Museum of the Academy of Mining and Metallurgy in Cracow. Radiocarbon dates of these samples from ca. 45–20 ka bp almost exactly coincide with age range of the Interplenivistulian. A break in speleothem formation between ca. 20 and 10 ka bp may be interpreted as a result of serious climatic deterioration associated with the maximum extent of the last glaciation. We observed differences among 14C, U/Th and AAR dating results. Changes of δ13C and δ18O in speleothems that grew between ca. 30 and 20 ka bp may be interpreted as changes of paleoclimatic conditions.


Author(s):  
Timothy Perttula

Recent archaeological investigations at the West Mound at the Sanders site (41LR2), on the Red River in Lamar County, Texas, disclosed substantial archaeological deposits associated with a burned clay floor to an ancestral Caddo structure in the mound. A significant part of the archaeological deposit were unburned animal bones of turtle, deer, and bison, along with Middle Caddo period, Sanders phase, fine and utility ware ceramic sherds; Sanders is one of 26 known Caddo sites in East Texas with bison bones and/or tools. In this article, I discuss the results of the radiocarbon dating of two samples of animal bone—deer and bison—from the West Mound at the Sanders site.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 953-961 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Bronk Ramsey ◽  
Michael Dee ◽  
Sharen Lee ◽  
Takeshi Nakagawa ◽  
Richard A Staff

Calibration is a core element of radiocarbon dating and is undergoing rapid development on a number of different fronts. This is most obvious in the area of 14C archives suitable for calibration purposes, which are now demonstrating much greater coherence over the earlier age range of the technique. Of particular significance to this end is the development of purely terrestrial archives such as those from the Lake Suigetsu sedimentary profile and Kauri tree rings from New Zealand, in addition to the groundwater records from speleothems. Equally important, however, is the development of statistical tools that can be used with, and help develop, such calibration data. In the context of sedimentary deposition, age-depth modeling provides a very useful way to analyze series of measurements from cores, with or without the presence of additional varve information. New methods are under development, making use of model averaging, that generate more robust age models. In addition, all calibration requires a coherent approach to outliers, for both single samples and where entire data sets might be offset relative to the calibration curve. This paper looks at current developments in these areas.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. e1-e15
Author(s):  
Taisiya Soldatova

ABSTRACTThe Upper Paleolithic open-air site Sungir is located in the central Russian Plain. The blank production of the lithic industry is characterized by parallel reduction with flakes being the main blank type. The tool assemblage has two components: archaic types (Mousterian-like) on the one hand and Upper Paleolithic types on the other. The available data does not allow for a confident determination of the chronological position of the Sungir site, nor does it enable researchers to distinguish different stages of human occupation. The horizontal distribution of the dated samples demonstrates the almost complete absence of radiocarbon (14C) dates for household features identified at the site (fireplaces, fire and ritual pits, large accumulations of bones, etc.). In addition, the vertical distribution of 14C dates in the rather thick cultural layer points to the exposure of the site to solifluction.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultu

AbstractThe Hualong Cave Site of Paleolithic Age in Dongzhi County, Anhui Province yielded rich animal fossils, bone implements bearing clear processing traces and use-wears, and more than 100 pieces of stone implements. On the animal fossils, the animal gnawing marks and artificial cutting traces were found together; the stone implement assemblages and the preservation features of the animal fossils implied that these animal bones were utilized by the human beings, but these human beings were not hunters but scavengers eating remnants of the preys left by the predator animals. The stone implements of Hualong Cave Site were mainly made of siliceous rock and the choppers took smaller proportion than scrapers, showing the characteristics of the lithic industry in the late Paleolithic Age.


2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (9) ◽  
pp. 2682-2687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian A. Tryon ◽  
Isabelle Crevecoeur ◽  
J. Tyler Faith ◽  
Ravid Ekshtain ◽  
Joelle Nivens ◽  
...  

Kenya National Museums Lukenya Hill Hominid 1 (KNM-LH 1) is a Homo sapiens partial calvaria from site GvJm-22 at Lukenya Hill, Kenya, associated with Later Stone Age (LSA) archaeological deposits. KNM-LH 1 is securely dated to the Late Pleistocene, and samples a time and region important for understanding the origins of modern human diversity. A revised chronology based on 26 accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dates on ostrich eggshells indicates an age range of 23,576–22,887 y B.P. for KNM-LH 1, confirming prior attribution to the Last Glacial Maximum. Additional dates extend the maximum age for archaeological deposits at GvJm-22 to >46,000 y B.P. (>46 kya). These dates are consistent with new analyses identifying both Middle Stone Age and LSA lithic technologies at the site, making GvJm-22 a rare eastern African record of major human behavioral shifts during the Late Pleistocene. Comparative morphometric analyses of the KNM-LH 1 cranium document the temporal and spatial complexity of early modern human morphological variability. Features of cranial shape distinguish KNM-LH 1 and other Middle and Late Pleistocene African fossils from crania of recent Africans and samples from Holocene LSA and European Upper Paleolithic sites.


Radiocarbon ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 31 (03) ◽  
pp. 976-985 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reidar Nydal

Recent progress in high-precision calibrations of radiocarbon dates has led to evaluations of earlier research. This has been the case with dates from the Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows which was discovered by Helge Ingstad in 1960. The most problematic feature of this series up to now was the use of sample material which partly derived from driftwood. The present paper concludes that charcoal from this site demonstrated no greater errors than normal from other settlement sites. With an assumed total systematic error of 30 ± 20 years, as a mean for various tree rings, the calibrated age range of L'Anse aux Meadows is AD 975–1020. This agrees well with the assumed historical age of ca AD 1000, a result which has also been recently corroborated by high-precision accelerator dating at the University of Toronto.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Yannis Maniatis ◽  
Fotini Adaktylou

ABSTRACT Radiocarbon (14C) dating was applied to the Neolithic open-air, flat-extended settlement at Revenia-Korinos in Pieria, North Greece. The samples came from the earlier habitation period of the settlement, characterized by more than 100 pits that vary significantly in shape and dimensions, some of them being identified as subterranean or semi-subterranean pit dwellings. It is suggested that the fills of the pits were the result of secondary, structured refuse deposition, except for pits that preserve their habitational use, according to stratigraphic data. The 14C results confirm that Revenia is among the earliest Neolithic settlements in North Greece and the Aegean in general. The initial phase of habitation is dated at around 6600/6550 BC comparable only to two other EN sites in North Greece. Habitation intensified at around 6460/6430 BC, accompanied by a shift in pottery style. This phase lasts until 6200/6100 BC when the pit habitation mode is followed by above-ground, rectangular post-framed structures. The dates of the human burials from Revenia also identify them as among the earliest Neolithic burials in Greece. Finally, the radiocarbon dates proved very useful for sequencing the chronological use of the pits and the excavated area in general.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 1432-1442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yorgos Facorellis ◽  
Panagiotis Karkanas ◽  
Thomas Higham ◽  
Fiona Brock ◽  
Maria Ntinou ◽  
...  

Theopetra Cave is a unique prehistoric site for Greece, as the Middle and Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods are present here, bridging the Pleistocene with the Holocene. During the more than 20 yr of excavation campaigns, charcoal samples from hearths suitable for 14C dating were collected from all anthropogenic layers, including the Paleolithic ones. Most of the samples were initially dated using the ABA chemical pretreatment protocol in the Laboratory of Archaeometry of NCSR Demokritos, Greece, and the Radiocarbon Dating and Cosmogenic Isotopes Laboratory of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. The 14C results, which were not always consistent versus depth, showed that the earliest limit of human presence is ∼50,000 yr BP, thus reaching the age limits of the 14C dating method. However, 10 TL-dated burnt flint specimens unearthed from the lower part of the Middle Paleolithic sequence of the cave gave ages ranging between ∼110 and 135 kyr ago. These results are in disagreement with the 14C dates, as they support a much later date for these layers. In order to clarify the situation further, charcoal samples originating from hearths were conventionally dated in the Laboratory of Archaeometry of NCSR Demokritos using the ABA pretreatment. Additionally, hand-picked charcoal fragments also underwent 14C dating by AMS in the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit using the acid-base wet oxidation (ABOX-SC) pretreatment protocol. The 14C dates from the cave's Paleolithic layers obtained by both pretreatment protocols suggest a probable charcoal diagenesis affecting the 14C results of these very old samples. However, the dates obtained with ABOX-SC pretreatment are considered more reliable and in the younger stratigraphic part produced consistent results with the TL dating.


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