Questioning Postclassic Continuity at Baking Pot, Belize, Using Direct AMS 14C Dating of Human Burials

Radiocarbon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 1057-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie A Hoggarth ◽  
Brendan J Culleton ◽  
Jaime J Awe ◽  
Douglas J Kennett
Keyword(s):  
Population Decline ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Ams Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Long Span ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Important Center ◽  
Baking Pot ◽  
Human Burials ◽  
Settlement Survey

Archaeologists working in the Belize Valley have argued for the persistence of Maya populations from the Classic (AD 300–900) through Postclassic (AD 900–1500) periods since Gordon Willey's groundbreaking settlement survey and excavation work in the 1950s. This is contrary to the trajectory recorded in some parts of the Maya region where there is clear evidence for political disruption and population decline at the end of the Classic period. The argument for continuous Classic to Postclassic occupation in the Belize Valley remains ambiguous due to researchers' reliance on relative ceramic chronologies. This article reports the results of direct accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating of human skeletons (n = 12) from the important center of Baking Pot, Belize, which is thought to provide some of the best ceramic evidence for continuity in the valley. The AMS dates show a long span of mortuary activity between the Middle Preclassic and Late Classic periods (405 cal BC to cal AD 770), with a hiatus in activity during the Early Postclassic (cal AD 900–1200) and subsequent activity in the Late Postclassic (cal AD 1280–1420). These results are not consistent with the idea that Baking Pot was occupied continuously from the Classic through Postclassic periods. This work highlights the need for additional AMS 14C work at Baking Pot and elsewhere to establish absolute chronologies for evaluating the political and demographic collapse of Classic Maya regional centers.

State Collapse and Household Resilience in the Oaxaca Valley of Mexico

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald K. Faulseit
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Sociopolitical Organization ◽  
State Collapse ◽  
Political Fragmentation ◽  
Early Postclassic ◽  
Valley Of Oaxaca ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
City State ◽  
The Hill

AbstractA two-year project of survey, surface collection, and excavation on the hill of Cerro Danush within the site of Dainzú-Macuilxóchitl in Oaxaca, Mexico, was focused on identifying and characterizing the Late Classic (A.D. 600–850/900) and Early Postclassic (A.D. 850/900–1300) components of the site, which coincide with the political fragmentation and reorganization of complex society within the Valley of Oaxaca. The transition in sociopolitical organization from the Classic to Postclassic has been the subject of several research projects, but few, if any, have clearly identified an Early Postclassic settlement. A radiocarbon analysis of charcoal samples collected during the excavation of a residential complex on Cerro Danush reveals its most recent period of occupation to be between A.D. 1000 and 1300, placing it firmly within the Early Postclassic. The excavation data are contextualized with data from the surface collection, illuminating patterns of Late Classic political fragmentation and Early Postclassic household resilience. Since Dainzú-Macuilxóchitl emerged in the Late Postclassic (A.D. 1300–1521) as a powerful city-state, exploring its Early Postclassic component contributes to the study of how societies reorganize on a local level after the collapse of centralized authority, such as the Classic period Monte Albán state.

Multiethnicity or Multiple Enigma

1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boyd Dixon ◽  
George Hasemann ◽  
Pastor Gomez ◽  
James Brady ◽  
Marilyn Beaudry-Corbett
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Indigenous Population ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Archaeological Survey ◽  
Important Goal ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Human Burials ◽  
Middle Formative

AbstractDuring the summer of 1995, an intensive archaeological survey of the Río Talgua drainage in eastern Honduras was conducted after the discovery of the Talgua Cave in the Department of Olancho. One important goal of this survey was the identification of the indigenous population responsible for depositing the ninth-century b.c. human burials found upstream in Talgua Cave. In addition to this survey, four other caves were found and/or explored during this season, and limited excavations were also conducted at the mounded site of Talgua downstream and at the ceramic-production site of Chichicaste in the mountains to the west. Preliminary analysis of the architecture and ceramics from 39 newly identified archaeological sites in the Talgua Valley suggests that all appear to date to the Late Classic period (a.d. 600–900), leaving the location of the Middle Formative period population unresolved. A review of the survey, cave, and ceramic data, however, does reveal possible information about the multiethnic nature of the regional political system and local social structure that existed in this previously unstudied area of Central America.

The Zoned Bichrome Period in Northwestern Costa Rica

1961 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 505-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Coe ◽  
Claude F. Baudez
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Coastal Region ◽  
First Century ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Maize Agriculture ◽  
Remote Areas ◽  
Early Postclassic ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Late Formative ◽  
Santa Elena

AbstractIn an attempt to establish an archaeological chronology for northwestern Costa Rica, excavations were carried out in 1959-60 in the coastal region and Tempisque River drainage of Guanacaste Province. Four periods have been defined: Zoned Bichrome, Early Polychrome, Middle Polychrome, and Late Polychrome. These are roughly equated in the Maya sequence with Late Formative, Early Classic through the beginning of Late Classic, the latter part of the Late Classic through the early Postclassic, and late Postclassic, respectively. The Zoned Bichrome period has been established on the basis of three geographically separate but coeval phases: Chombo on the Santa Elena Peninsula, Monte Fresco in the Tamarindo Bay zone, and Catalina on the middle Tempisque. All three phases are linked to each other through trade pottery; a radiocarbon date on Monte Fresco is within the first century of the Christian era. Outstanding characteristics of the period are bichrome zoning, dentate rocker-stamping, wavy black lines produced by a multiple brush, engraving, and incising. Considerable fishing and hunting was carried out, and intensive maize agriculture is inferred. These village materials indicate that lower Central America was participating in at least some of the trait diffusion which linked remote areas of Nuclear America in Formative times.

scholarly journals 14C Dating of Laminated Sediments from Loch Ness, Scotland

Radiocarbon ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 781-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. C. Cooper ◽  
P.E. O'Sullivan ◽  
D. D. Harkness ◽  
E. M. Lawson ◽  
D. Bull ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation History ◽  
Laminated Sediments ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Ams Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
The Core ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
Eastern North Atlantic ◽  
Lamination Thickness

Radiometric and AMS radiocarbon dating of a 6-m sediment core from Loch Ness, Scotland, indicates that it represents perhaps the very end of the Late Pleistocene, and the first ca. 7500 yr of the Holocene. Counts of laminations observed in the Holocene section of the core suggest that they are present in sufficient number to constitute annual laminations (varves), an hypothesis consistent with the pollen record, which contains a sequence of zones representative of the Early, Middle and part of the Late Holocene regional vegetation history. On the basis of BSEM and X-ray studies of sediments, and modern seston trap data, the laminations are believed to be produced by winter floods, which introduce increased silt loading into the Loch. Sediment for the rest of the year is mostly composed of clay-sized material. This hypothesis is being further tested, however, by continuing sedimentological and microfossil studies.Time-depth relations for the core based on calibrated 14C dates and lamination counts, respectively, illustrate the close correspondence between the two sets of data. The latter are therefore now being used to develop a varve chronology for the Holocene for Loch Ness. This will then in turn be used for further chronological studies, and for investigations of palaeoclimatic variations over the eastern North Atlantic, to which the signal of lamination thickness in the sediments is thought to be particularly sensitive. They may also eventually be used for calibration studies, employing 14C dating of specific carbon compounds, or groups of compounds extracted from the sediment using modern organic geochemical methods.

scholarly journals Reassessing the Mesolithic\Neolithic ‘gap’ in Southeast European cave sequences

2008 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 237-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitrij Mlekuž ◽  
Mihael Budja ◽  
Robert Payton ◽  
Clive Bonsall ◽  
Andreja Žibrat Gašparič
Keyword(s):  
General Population ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Ams Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Cave Sediments ◽  
Soil Sediment ◽  
Geomorphological Processes ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Late Mesolithic

Radiocarbon sequences from some northern Mediterranean cave sites show a temporal gap between Mesolithic and Neolithic occupations. Some authors regard this as a regional phenomenon and have sought to explain it in terms of a general population decline in the late Mesolithic, which facilitated the replacement of indigenous foragers by immigrant farmers. New evidence from the rockshelter site of Mala Triglavca, in Slovenia, leads us to question this view. The results of AMS radiocarbon dating of samples recovered in excavations in the 1980s and associated soil/sediment analyses reveal evidence of substantial postdepositional disturbance of the cave sediments by human agency and geomorphological processes, which have created ‘temporal gaps’ and ‘inversions’ in the radiocarbon sequence and secondary deposits with residual finds.

scholarly journals Preparation of Graphite Targets in the Gliwice Radiocarbon Laboratory for AMS 14C Dating

Radiocarbon ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (2A) ◽  
pp. 283-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justyna Czernik ◽  
Tomasz Goslar
Keyword(s):  
Standard Samples ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Ams Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Free Quartz ◽  
Significant Contamination ◽  
To Come ◽  
Ams 14C Dating ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Quartz Tubes

A line for preparation of graphite targets for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating has been built in the Gliwice 14C Laboratory. The AMS 14C measurements of our targets are performed in the Leibniz-Labor für Altersbestimmung, Kiel, Germany. The quality of our line has been tested in two series of AMS 14C measurements of background and Ox-II standard samples and by measurements of the amount of CO2 released during combustion of sample-free quartz tubes. Most background contamination in the first series was introduced during combustion, which has been greatly reduced by baking quartz tubes vacuum-sealed with CuO and Ag. The residual contamination (ca. 1.5 μg C) seems to come mostly from the quartz tubes themselves. At present, most of the contamination of the background is introduced during graphitization. The reproducibility of background preparations is satisfactory, especially for samples larger than 1.5 mg, when it is better than ± 0.09 pMC. Despite still significant contamination with low-14C carbon during the graphitization process (corresponding to 1.2 ± 0.2% of 14C-free carbon), the good reproducibility of the results allows us to use our line in routine 14C dating.

scholarly journals AMS 14C Dating of Iron Artifacts: Development and Application

Radiocarbon ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 219-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroki Enami ◽  
Toshio Nakamura ◽  
Hirotaka Oda ◽  
Tetsuya Yamada ◽  
Toshio Tsukamoto
Keyword(s):  
Background Level ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Ams Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Iron Slag ◽  
Iron Smelting ◽  
Archaeological Iron ◽  
Iron Artifacts ◽  
Fuel Source ◽  
Apparent Age ◽  
By Products

We have developed a prototype carbon extraction system for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating of archaeological iron remains by combusting them with a RF induction furnace. We have also successfully tested and used a method of carbon extraction from iron using a CuCl2 solution. Modifications to our carbon extraction systems and methods provide us acceptable performances; carbon yield is normally around 80% and the 14C background level is as low as 42–48 ka BP in 14C apparent age. We have also conducted an iron refining experiment to examine the sources for carbon 14C age derived from iron, using established AMS 14C dating and carbon extraction systems. Our refining experiment was conducted on iron slag, which are by-products formed during iron smelting methods in the 7th century AD, and using modern charcoal as fuel. The aim of the experiment was to determine whether original carbon characteristics in the original iron materials would be preserved, or if the carbon signature would be replaced to some degree by the modern charcoal. AMS 14C measurements on the refined iron yielded 14C ages equivalent to those of the modern charcoal fuel. The result indicates that the original carbon signatures in the iron slag from 7th century production was replaced completely by modern carbon used in our experiment. The experiment confirms the assumption that 14C ages on iron products are associated with the fuel source of the iron smelting or refining process. We also report on the dating of iron slag materials excavated from the Gennaitouge iron smelting site, where 14C dates were consistent with the age of the site estimated by archaeological evidence.

scholarly journals Successful AMS 14C Dating of Non-Hydraulic Lime Mortars from the Medieval Churches of the Åland Islands, Finland

Radiocarbon ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Heinemeier ◽  
Åsa Ringbom ◽  
Alf Lindroos ◽  
Árný E Sveinbjörnsdóttir
Keyword(s):  
Direct Contact ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
14C Dating ◽  
Hydraulic Lime ◽  
Ams Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Lime Mortars ◽  
Ams Dating ◽  
Chemical Testing ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Ams 14C Dating

Fifteen years of research on accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating of non-hydraulic mortar has now led to the establishment of a chronology for the medieval stone churches of the Åland Islands (Finland), where no contemporary written records could shed light on the first building phases. In contrast to other material for dating, well-preserved mortar is abundantly available from every building stage.We have gathered experience from AMS dating of 150 Åland mortar samples. Approximately half of them have age control from dendrochronology or from 14C analysis of wooden fragments in direct contact with the mortar. Of the samples with age control, 95% of the results agree with the age of the wood. The age control from dendrochronology, petrologic microscopy, chemical testing of the mortars, and mathematical modeling of their behavior during dissolution in acid have helped us to define criteria of reliability to interpret the 14C results when mortar dating is the only possibility to constrain the buildings in time. With these criteria, 80% of all samples reached conclusive results, and we have thus far been able to establish the chronology of 12 out of the 14 churches and chapels, while 2 still require complementary analyses.

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